Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy calls for meeting with China as US warns Beijing against helping Putin
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‘We would like to meet with China,’ says Zelenskiy
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he had not seen any Chinese peace plan but he would welcome a meeting between Ukraine and China, Reuters reports.
“We would like to meet with China,” he said during a news briefing in Kyiv with the visiting Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier on Thursday, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance had seen signs that China was considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing against taking any such step.
The announcement came days after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, warned China of consequences if it provided material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Stoltenberg told Reuters:
We haven’t seen any supplies of lethal aid from China to Russia, but we have seen signs that they are considering and may be planning for that …That’s the reason why the United States and other allies have been very clear, warning against that. And China should of course not support Russia’s illegal war.
There was no immediate comment from China, but its foreign ministry said earlier on Thursday that any potential intelligence on arms transfer by China to Russia that the US planned to release was just speculation.
Updated at 09.44 EST
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The EU should consider appointing a full-time commissioner to oversee the drafting and enforcing of sanctions so they can be used effectively against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Lithuanian foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, told the Guardian in an interview.
He was speaking in London as he met the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, to discuss the summer Nato summit in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, where the Baltic states will press for progress on Ukraine’s Nato application and for more to be done to defend the bloc’s European flank.
He said he was frustrated with the number of exemptions to sanctions, saying “sometimes we derogate so much that we can call this a hole in a ship that can sink the ship”.
He cited the derogations from sanctions provided in September for coal, cement and wood on the basis that they were linked to protecting food security.
There needs to be a clearer explanation of these derogations. In some cases there may be a link, but when we talk about cement, I am sorry, I cannot find the link with food security.
While EU officials had been appointed to check how sanctions were being implemented, Landsbergis argued, “sanctions are becoming so important to the EU single market that we may need to go further and make sanctions policy a political portfolio”.
Read the full story here:
The UN’s general assembly is meeting for a second day ahead of a vote on a motion calling for the unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
The 193-member assembly will vote on the motion, backed by Kyiv and its allies, to mark the first anniversary of Moscow’s full-fledged invasion of its neighbour, which UN secretary general António Guterres denounced as an “attack on our collective conscience”.
In an address marking the start of the session yesterday, Guterres warned of a further escalation of the war, and referred to “indirect threats” of the use of nuclear weapons and “irresponsible” military actions in the vicinity of nuclear power plants.
The assembly is expected by a massive majority to endorse a broad resolution demanding Russia unconditionally and immediately withdraw from Ukraine’s territory, but China, South Africa, India and many countries in the global south are likely to continue to abstain, underlining their alienation from what they regarded as the west’s war.
You can watch the vote and the preceding debate live here:
UN general assembly marks one year since Russia invaded Ukraine – watch live
Unlike the UN’s security council, Russia has no veto right in the general assembly. The resolutions are not binding under international law.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the assembly has passed a series of resolutions condemning its actions. In March last year, 141 of the 193 UN member states voted in favour of a resolution calling Russia to withdraw from Ukraine “immediately”
In April, the assembly decided with a much narrower majority of 93 votes to suspend Russia’s UN human rights council membership in Geneva. In October, 143 member states condemned Russia’s “illegal annexations” of Ukraine’s Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
Updated at 10.35 EST
Anna and her husband left Russia after Putin’s mobilisation. She told Clea Skopeliti of the difficulties in Turkey and the potential dangers of moving back.
“A few months after leaving Russia, I came back to Moscow. We’re still figuring out what to do. We’re considering moving back to Russia because we can’t afford living in Turkey, since the rouble has become much weaker.
“But it’s not safe. There could be another mobilisation at any moment, and we worry my husband could be drafted because he has an engineering background.
It is so hard to make all those decisions when there are so many things you don’t know. I’m really scared of him being drafted because if they take you, there’s nothing you can do. There are two options: war or jail.”
Read more here:
Updated at 10.01 EST
Here are the latest images from Ukraine:
A Ukrainian doctor with the NGO Hospitallers awaits the next group of wounded Ukrainian soldiers at a stabilisation hospital in the Donbas region. Photograph: John Moore/Getty ImagesA Ukrainian frontline paramedic uses a Starlink internet connection in a basement living quarters in the Donbas region. Photograph: John Moore/Getty ImagesWhite Angels members help civilians in Marinka. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesPedro Sánchez, the Spanish prime minister, visits Kyiv. Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPAIryna Vrotniak, 19, an art student, hangs paper angels she and her classmates made on the graves of Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesA view from Kurakhove. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Updated at 10.04 EST
‘We would like to meet with China,’ says Zelenskiy
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he had not seen any Chinese peace plan but he would welcome a meeting between Ukraine and China, Reuters reports.
“We would like to meet with China,” he said during a news briefing in Kyiv with the visiting Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier on Thursday, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance had seen signs that China was considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing against taking any such step.
The announcement came days after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, warned China of consequences if it provided material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Stoltenberg told Reuters:
We haven’t seen any supplies of lethal aid from China to Russia, but we have seen signs that they are considering and may be planning for that …That’s the reason why the United States and other allies have been very clear, warning against that. And China should of course not support Russia’s illegal war.
There was no immediate comment from China, but its foreign ministry said earlier on Thursday that any potential intelligence on arms transfer by China to Russia that the US planned to release was just speculation.
Updated at 09.44 EST
The Guardian reporters Shaun Walker, Isobel Koshiw, Pjotr Sauer, Morten Risberg, Liz Cookman and Luke Harding revisited one of the grimmest chapters of Russia’s war – the ruin of Mariupol.
For more than 80 days, the Russians bombarded Mariupol, determined to take the port city even if they had to raze it to the ground first.
After Russian forces finally crushed Ukrainian resistance last May, they set about putting their stamp on Mariupol, erasing evidence of the recent atrocities and of past Ukrainian history in the city.
A year on from the invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian tells the story of Mariupol – perhaps the bloodiest and most shocking chapter of Russia’s brutal war.
Read more here:
Updated at 09.45 EST
Italy calls for G7 sanctions against Russia to be applied by all G20 countries
The sanctions introduced by G7 nations against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine should be applied by all G20 countries, Italy’s economy minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, said on Thursday.
In a statement issued on the sidelines of a summit among G20 finance leaders in Bengaluru, Giorgetti said the sanctions “must be applied not only by the G7 countries but also by the G20 countries”, Reuters reports.
“Otherwise Russia circumvents the sanctions system and the effects risk falling short of our expectations,” the minister added.
Updated at 09.46 EST
Australia to send drones to Ukraine and expand sanctions against Russia
Australia will send drones to Ukraine and expand sanctions against Russian government, military and media figures as part of a pledge to stand with Kyiv “for as long as it takes”.
Announcing the new support on the first anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the government said the sanctions would also target “those spreading mistruths to justify this war”.
The package includes travel bans and asset freezes for a further 90 Russian individuals and 40 Russian entities, including the state-owned media outlet Sputnik.
Read more here:
Updated at 09.46 EST
US Treasury secretary warns China of ‘serious consequences’ if it helps Russia
Earlier we reported that the US Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, had stepped up calls for increased financing support to Ukraine during a news conference in India.
Yellen also told journalists that talks between the US and China on economic issues would resume at “an appropriate time”, while warning Beijing that providing any material support to Moscow’s war effort would be “a very serious concern”.
On the subject of US sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, she said:
We have made clear that providing material support to Russia or assistance with any type of systemic sanctions evasion would be a very serious concern to us.
And we will certainly continue to make clear to the Chinese government and to companies and banks in their jurisdictions what the rules are regarding our sanctions and the serious consequences that they would face in violating them.
Janet Yellen addresses the media in Bengaluru. Photograph: Manjunath Kiran/AFP/Getty Images
The warning came a day after China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, met Vladimir Putin in Moscow, as Beijing and Moscow reaffirmed their close bilateral relationship before the first anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war.
Updated at 08.55 EST
Ukraine has charged nearly 300 individuals with war crimes, says prosecutor
Ukrainian courts have brought charges against nearly 300 individuals for war crimes since Russia’s full-fledged invasion a year ago, an official has said.
Ukraine’s prosecutor coordinating war crimes cases in The Hague, Myroslava Krasnoborova, said 26 individuals had been tried and convicted and a total of 276 individuals charged with war crimes.
The convictions were for crimes including rape and murder, the shelling of residential buildings, cruel treatment of civilians and pillaging, she said.
More than 71,000 alleged war crimes have been registered in Ukraine since 24 February 2022, she said.
The “atrocities and destruction” caused by Russia were “colossal and endless”, she said during a briefing.
Millions of people have been forced to leave everything behind. Massive missile attacks are destroying the civilian infrastructure and many tragically lost their lives.
This damage cannot be undone, but what we can do is to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies are being assisted in war crimes investigations by dozens of countries and institutions. Russia has denied committing atrocities or targeting civilians.
Updated at 08.56 EST
Anti-war protesters in London poured yellow and blue paint on to the road outside the Russian embassy to create a giant Ukrainian flag before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-fledged invasion.
The campaign group Led By Donkeys halted traffic before spreading more than 300 litres of paint across the road, using wheelbarrows and brushes to make the 500 square metre flag.
Activists poured paint on to the road to create a giant Ukrainian flag outside the Russian embassy in London. Photograph: Led By Donkeys/Getty ImagesThe group said it created the flag using washable paint. Photograph: Led By Donkeys/Getty Images
In a statement, the group said Ukraine was “an independent state and a people with every right to self-determination”, adding:
The existence of a massive Ukrainian flag outside Putin’s embassy in London will serve to remind him of that.
The group said the non-toxic, solvent-free and fast-dry edible paint was washable and designed for road art.
Four people – three men and one woman – were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and obstructing the highway, the Metropolitan police said.
Updated at 08.14 EST
A Russian man who has lived in Poland for many years has been charged with spying, Polish authorities said.
The suspect was detained in April on suspicion of collecting information between 2015 and April 2022 concerning the military readiness of Poland’s armed forces and of Nato, and then passing them on to the Russian intelligence service.
An indictment was submitted last Friday to Gdansk district court against the suspect, a spokesperson for the Gdansk district prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
They said the Russian citizen’s “espionage activity was focused on military units located in the north-eastern part of Poland, as part of which he carried out tasks of reconnaissance of important elements of the Polish armed force”.
The case was one of “several” concerning activity for the Russian and Belarusian intelligence services against the Polish military, they added.
Updated at 08.09 EST
North Korean state media have marked the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by blaming Nato and calling the US’s involvement a “trail to self-destruction.”
In comments to the state-run news agency KCNA, reported by Reuters, Kim Yoo-chul, described as an international affairs critic, said the conflict in Ukraine was the “inevitable product of coercion and hegemony” by the US and its allies. He wrote:
If Ukraine had not blindly taken part in the US policy of anti-Russian confrontation, if it had abandoned the dirty demons of the United States and promoted reconciliation and unity with its neighbours, the situation would not have reached the point where it is as bad as it is now.
The current situation in Ukraine once again proves that there can be no peace in the world at any time unless the United States’ policy of force, tyranny and greedy aggression … is ended.
North Korea has forged close ties with Russia since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It has publicly supported Moscow in statements as well as at the UN, and has expressed support for Russia’s proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine.
Updated at 08.10 EST