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Ukraine-Russia war: Russia targets humanitarian point in deadly missile strike

Rescuers at work on the rubbles of a house destroyed as a result of a Russian missile strike in Kostyantynivka - HANDOUT/AFP
Rescuers at work on the rubbles of a house destroyed as a result of a Russian missile strike in Kostyantynivka - HANDOUT/AFP

A Russian strike on an "invincibility point" that gives humanitarian support killed three people in an eastern Ukraine town, the emergencies service said on Friday.

The emergencies services published images of a one-storey building with its roof caved in and debris all around.

The invincibility point that was hit overnight in the city of Kostiantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region was one of many such shelters created by authorities across Ukraine to provide access to electricity, heating, water and other basic services.

Authorities said the victims included "three internally displaced women from Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar and Opytne" - nearby towns at the centre of the conflict.

Kostyantynivka is about 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Bakhmut, an industrial city that has seen the longest and bloodiest battle of the Russian invasion.


03:00 PM

And that's all for today

Here is a summary of today's stories.

  • Russia's defence ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed a hangar housing drones belonging to Ukraine's armed forces in the southwestern Odesa region of the country.

  • The United Nations said it was "deeply concerned" by what it described as summary executions of prisoners of war carried out by Russian and Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.

  • Ukraine may not be able to retake all Russian-occupied territory by force, the US Secretary of State has suggested in remarks likely to anger Kyiv.

Please follow along tomorrow for all the latest updates on Ukraine.


02:50 PM

Ukraine may not be able to reclaim Crimea by force, US says

Ukraine may not be able to retake all Russian-occupied territory by force, the US Secretary of State has suggested in remarks likely to anger Kyiv.

The US is Ukraine’s most important military backer and has publicly pledged to continue its support for “as long as it takes” to defeat the Russian invasion.

But Antony Blinken told Congress on Thursday that some of Ukraine’s stated war aims might only be possible through diplomacy rather than fighting.

Read the full story from Roland Oliphant, The Telegraph's Senior Foreign Correspondent, here


02:39 PM

Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen fire at Russian positions near Bakhmut

Ukrainian servicemen fire with an M119 105mm howitzer at Russian positions near Bakhmut - ARIS MESSINIS/AFP
Ukrainian servicemen fire with an M119 105mm howitzer at Russian positions near Bakhmut - ARIS MESSINIS/AFP

02:20 PM

UN accuses Russian and Ukrainian forces of 'summary executions' of prisoners of war

The United Nations said Friday it was "deeply concerned" by what it described as summary executions of prisoners of war carried out by Russian and Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.

The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, said her organisation had documented killings, often on the battlefield, by both sides in recent months.

"We are deeply concerned about summary execution of up to 25 Russian prisoners of war and persons hors de combat by the Ukrainian armed forces, which we have documented," Ms Bogner said at a press conference in Kyiv.

"This was often perpetrated immediately upon capture on the battlefield. While we are aware of ongoing investigations by Ukraine authorities into five cases involving 22 victims, we are not aware of any prosecution of the perpetrators," she added.

Ms Bogner also related the UN's "deep" concern over "the summary execution of 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war shortly after being captured by Russian armed forces".

She said the Wagner mercenary group, which claims to be leading Russia's assault for Bakhmut, the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, was responsible for some 11 of those killings.


02:06 PM

Russia wants demilitarised buffer zones in Ukraine, says Medvedev

Russia wants to create demilitarised buffer zones inside Ukraine around areas it has annexed, an ally of President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, saying it might be necessary to push deeper into Ukraine if such zones cannot be set up.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who casts himself as Putin's most publicly hawkish official, said Russia needed demilitarised corridors around the areas it is claiming - and which Ukraine says it will never accept Russian control of.

"We need to achieve all the goals that have been set to protect our territories, that is the territories of the Russian Federation," Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said in an interview with Russian media posted on Telegram.

We need to "throw out all the foreigners who are there in the broad sense of the word, create a buffer zone which would not allow the use of any types of weapons that work at medium and short distances, that is 70-100 kilometres, to demilitarise it," Medvedev said.


01:42 PM

Spain says world must listen to China's voice on the conflict in Ukraine

The world should listen to China's position on the war in Ukraine to help reach a solution to the conflict, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a news conference in Brussels on Friday.

Mr Sanchez is set to visit Beijing next week for talks with President Xi Jinping.


01:28 PM

Pictured: Ukrainian personnel live-firing guns for the first time

Ukrainian personnel live-firing the guns for the first time, under the supervision of their British Army instructors, at a British Army training facility. - Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Europe
Ukrainian personnel live-firing the guns for the first time, under the supervision of their British Army instructors, at a British Army training facility. - Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images Europe

01:26 PM

Thousands of civilians 'at the limit of existence' in Ukraine's Bakhmut, Red Cross says

Some 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, many elderly and with disabilities, are clinging on to existence in horrific circumstances in and around the besieged city of Bakhmut, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday.

Russian forces have been trying for months to capture the city in Europe's bloodiest infantry battle since World War Two.

Several thousand are estimated to remain in the city itself, said the ICRC's Umar Khan, who has been providing them with aid in recent days.

"For the civilians that are stuck there, they are living in very dire conditions, spending almost the entire days in intense shelling in the shelters," he told a Geneva press briefing by video link from Dnipro in Ukraine.

"All you see is people pushed to the very limits of their existence and survival and resilience."


12:46 PM

Russia to skip Earth Hour

The Kremlin on Friday said Russia will skip the annual global Earth Hour event this weekend after the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was labelled a "foreign agent" by Moscow.

The move comes as Russia cracks down on most foreign-linked groups since its offensive in Ukraine, including climate-orientated organisations.

Earth Hour, which WWF organises, encourages people worldwide to turn their lights off for 60 minutes to raise awareness about environmental issues.

Russia has taken part in the event, which is scheduled this Saturday, for 14 years.

"This year, we took the decision to hold back from this event," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday.

"It is because they have become a foreign agent."


12:29 PM

Medvedev issues warning to the Russian military industrial complex

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, has quoted a Second World War-era telegram from Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in a warning for the Russian military industrial complex, writes Nataliya Vasilyeva.

Mr Medvedev, who in recent months underwent a stunning transformation from an iPhone-toting liberal former president to an anti-Western hawk, on Thursday read out Stalin’s telegram to the directors of Russia’s military factories, threatening to “crush” them “like thieves” if they failed.

“Now I ask and hope that you will fulfil your duty to the motherland,” Mr Medvedev was seen in a video, reading the 1941 telegram to a tank factory in the Urals.

“In a few days, if you prove to violate your duty to the motherland, I will crush you like criminals who neglected the honour and interests of their motherland.”

Western intelligence have said Russia has been struggling to keep up weapons production to replenish its arsenal, having used up a high number of ammunition and weapons in Ukraine.

Asked about Mr Medvedev’s stance, a Kremlin spokesman on Friday said it was okay to draw on Russia’s war-time “priceless” experience.”


12:11 PM

Breaking: Russia says it destroyed Ukrainian drone hangar in Odesa region

Russia's defence ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed a hangar housing drones belonging to Ukraine's armed forces in the southwestern Odesa region of the country.


12:04 PM

Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen head toward Bakhmut in a BMP infantry fighting vehicle

Ukrainian servicemen head toward Bakhmut in a BMP infantry fighting vehicle - ARIS MESSINIS/AFP
Ukrainian servicemen head toward Bakhmut in a BMP infantry fighting vehicle - ARIS MESSINIS/AFP

11:55 AM

Ukraine says three killed in Donetsk region strike

A Russian strike on a humanitarian support centre in an eastern Ukraine town killed three people, the emergencies service said on Friday, revising their previous toll of five dead.

A previous post [ see post at 08:59] reported that five civilians were killed in Kostiantynivka. Emergency services have since revised their death toll to three.

"The town of Kostyantynivka came under rocket fire during the night of March 24. One of the rockets hit a one-storey building," emergency services said.

"Three people died and two people were injured as a result of the incident," it said later.


11:40 AM

Watch: ‘Publicly glowing, privately embarrassed’ Putin faces snub by Xi Jinping

In any negotiation you have to have an idea of what you want, but you must also have an idea of what you would be happy to trade back down to, writes Dominic Nicholls, The Telegraph's Associate Editor.

Putin should be happy, because if all he’s secured from Xi’s visit to Moscow is a lot of photographs of the theatre of international diplomacy, then it’s all showing that he has the support of the rising star of the century - China - and that’s good enough.

Of course, Putin isn’t the type of man to be happy with good enough. He does want everything.

So it is a bit of a snub that he wasn’t able to come away with any Chinese weapons or money.

Read more from Dominic Nicholls here


11:38 AM

Russian diplomat asks whether Prince of Wales ‘brought depleted uranium’

Russia’s top diplomat has taken aim at the Prince of Wales’s visit to Poland, using it to express Russia’s concerns about Britain’s support of Ukraine in the war.

Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry, used the trip to raise concerns about Britain’s plans to supply Ukraine with depleted uranium shells for Challenger 2 tanks.

“I wonder if William Charles-ovich has brought depleted uranium ammunition for his troops,” she said, coining a patronymic for the Prince of Wales by using his father’s first name.

Read the full story from India McTaggart and Nataliya Vasilyeva here


10:48 AM

Ukraine preparing fresh counter offensive as 1,000 Russians 'killed' in 24 hours

Ukraine is preparing a fresh counter-offensive, a leading commander has said, as more than one thousand Russian soldiers were reportedly killed in the past 24 hours.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's top ground forces commander, said earlier his forces would soon begin a counter offensive after withstanding Russia's winter campaign.

He said Russia's Wagner mercenaries, who have been at the front of Moscow's assault on eastern and southern Ukraine "are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam".

"Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk," he said, listing Ukrainian counteroffensives last year that recaptured swathes of land.

The Ukrainian military said early on Friday that 1,020 Russian troops had been killed over the previous 24 hours as they launched unsuccessful attacks on the towns of Lyman, Avdiivka, Mariinka, and Shakhtarske.


10:23 AM

Russian wanted by US 'goes missing' in Italy

The son of a senior Russian official arrested in Italy at Washington's request disappeared the day after a court approved his extradition to the United States, media reports said on Friday.

Following his arrest at Milan Malpensa Airport on October 17, Artyom Uss was held at his residence near Milan but required to wear an electronic bracelet.

US authorities accuse Uss, the son of a Siberian governor, of having illegally sold US technologies to Russian arms companies.

On Tuesday, an Italian court agreed to his extradition to the United States - but the following day, he disappeared, media reports said.

According to La Repubblica newspaper, police checked on Uss early Wednesday but around lunchtime his electronic bracelet sounded the alarm, and he has not been seen since.

Several Italian dailies speculated that he may already be abroad.


09:59 AM

Ron DeSantis brands Vladimir Putin a ‘loser war criminal’

Ron DeSantis has described Vladimir Putin as a “war criminal” who should be “held accountable”.

Mr DeSantis was facing a backlash from fellow Republicans last week for characterising the conflict as a “territorial dispute”.

The Florida governor, who is thought to be planning a presidential campaign, said previous comments that he made mischaracterised his position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Read the full story from Josie Ensor here


09:37 AM

Pictured: A serviceman prepares to pose for a portrait with a portable anti-aircraft missile system

A serviceman prepares to pose for a portrait with a portable anti-aircraft missile system - VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA/REUTERS
A serviceman prepares to pose for a portrait with a portable anti-aircraft missile system - VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA/REUTERS

09:17 AM

Medvedev: We don't want direct conflict with Nato

Dmitry Medvedev has said that Russia was not planning to enter into a direct conflict with Nato and was interested in resolving the Ukraine crisis through talks, the Interfax news agency reported.

However, Russia's ex president warned that any Ukrainian attempt to take the Crimean peninsula - which Moscow annexed in 2014 - would be grounds for Russia to use "absolutely any weapon" against Kyiv in response.


08:59 AM

At least seven killed in overnight Russian missile strikes

Overnight Russian missile strikes and shelling killed at least seven civilians in northern and eastern Ukraine, regional officials said on Friday.

Emergency services said five civilians were killed in Kostiantynivka in the eastern region of Donetsk region, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said two were killed and seven wounded following intense shelling of Bilopillia in the northern region of Sumy.


08:32 AM

Comment: Putin’s shattered army will never recover

It was the 19th-century military theorist Carl von Clausewitz who described war as “the realm of uncertainty”.

In Ukraine, the fog of war is thick, and growing ever thicker.

It’s impossible to gauge the true state of the battles raging in the east of the country.

For some, Ukraine’s heroic defence against the renewed Russian offensive marks a victory of sorts. For others, the high losses they are sustaining are indicative of Russia’s ability to remobilise and regroup.

Read the full piece from Hamish De Bretton-Gordon here


08:14 AM

Latest MoD update


07:54 AM

Yevgeny Prigohzin's Wagner group to 'refocus' on Africa after failures in Ukraine

The Wagner Group is preparing to refocus its efforts in Africa and away from Ukraine amid a long-running dispute with Moscow, it has been reported.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary group, has repeatedly accused Russia’s defence ministry of stymying his supply of ammunition and manpower.

Western analysts believe Sergei Shoigu, Russia's defence minister, is trying to stifle Prigozhin's growing political influence.

Read the full story from Joe Barnes here


07:53 AM

Ukraine in pictures:

A Ukrainian serviceman kisses his partner at the train station in Kramatorsk - Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
A Ukrainian serviceman kisses his partner at the train station in Kramatorsk - Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Military personnel at a training ground in the Zhytomyr Region - Pavlo Bahmut / Avalon/Avalon
Military personnel at a training ground in the Zhytomyr Region - Pavlo Bahmut / Avalon/Avalon
Emergency workers remove a FAB-500 unexploded Russian air bomb in the town of Preobrazhenka - Andriy Andriyenko/AP
Emergency workers remove a FAB-500 unexploded Russian air bomb in the town of Preobrazhenka - Andriy Andriyenko/AP

07:49 AM

Zelensky urges Europe to increase supply of weapons

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, urged Europe on Thursday to increase and speed up its supply of weapons and impose additional sanctions on Russia, warning the war could otherwise drag on for years.

"If Europe waits, the evil may have time to regroup and prepare for years of war. It is in your power to prevent this," a clearly frustrated Mr Zelensky said in a video address to European Union leaders, delivered from a train.

In particular, he reiterated demands for long-range missiles, ammunition and modern aircraft, and said the EU needed to speed up the process to grant Ukraine membership.


07:47 AM

Good morning

Good morning and welcome to today's Ukraine liveblog.

We will be guiding you through all the latest updates on Ukraine.