Ukraine updates: Russia promises more munitions to forces
All the updates from April 1 as they happened.
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war from Saturday, April 1:
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war from Saturday, April 1:
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Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu promised to boost munitions supplies to forces in Ukraine during a visit to the headquarters of Moscow’s troops fighting in the country.
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A senior Ukrainian official ruled out any ceasefire in Russia’s war on his country that would involve Russian forces remaining on territory they now occupy in Ukraine.
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US officials said a new $2.6bn military aid package could be announced early next week and is expected to include air surveillance radars, anti-tank rockets and fuel trucks for the Ukrainian army.
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The International Monetary Fund said its executive board approved a four-year $15.6bn loan programme for Ukraine, part of a global $115bn package to support the country’s economy as it battles Russia’s 13-month occupation.
Protesters face off in Kyiv as clergyman’s home raided
Protesters have faced off outside a historic monastery in the Ukrainian capital after the home of a leading clergyman was raided by the security services.
Metropolitan Pavlo of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of links with Moscow despite renouncing them, was called in for questioning on charges of inciting religious hatred.
The SBU security service said Pavlo is suspected of “justifying and denying the aggression by the Russian army against Ukraine and of glorifying its members” as well as “violating the equality of citizens on racial, national, regional and religious grounds”.
“The law and the responsibility for violating it are the same for everyone and a cassock is no guarantee of pure intentions,” SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk said in a statement, accusing Russia of using religion “to promote propaganda and divide Ukrainian society”.
The SBU said it had raided the home of Metropolitan Pavlo.
Russia Security Council presidency a ‘slap in the face’: Ukraine FM
Russia’s presidency of the UN Security Council for the month of April is “a slap in the face to the international community”, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency,” Kuleba said at the start of Russia’s tenure of the body’s rotating presidency.
In a statement on Twitter, Kuleba called Russia “an outlaw on the UNSC”.
Russian UNSC presidency is a slap in the face to the international community. I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency. I also remind that Russia is an outlaw on the UNSC: https://t.co/rZVC1pV0MY#BadRussianJoke #InsecurityCouncil
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 1, 2023
North Korea accuses Ukraine of having nuclear ambitions: KCNA
North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, accused Ukraine of calling for nuclear weapons, state media KCNA has reported, basing her assertion on an online petition in that country that has drawn under 1,000 signatures so far.
Kim said this kind of petition could be a political plot by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, but did not provide any evidence for the assertion.
Following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement last week that Moscow plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a public petition was filed to the Ukrainian presidential office’s website on Thursday, calling for Ukraine to host nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory, or for it to be armed with its own nuclear weapons.
Gazprom to ship 37.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine
Russia’s Gazprom has said that it would ship 37.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine.
Russian regular military conscription campaign kicks off
Russia’s routine spring conscription has begun, the RBK portal reported, citing a decree by President Vladimir Putin.
According to Vladimir Tsimlyansky, Rear Admiral of the General Staff, about 147,000 of the 700,000 potential conscripts have been called up. But none would go to fight in Ukraine, he stressed.
The first of the two campaigns this year will last until July 15.
Russian men between the ages of 18 and 27 are required to carry out at least one year of military service.
Kyiv orders 100 armoured vehicles from Poland: PM
Ukraine has ordered 100 Rosomak multi-purpose armoured vehicles, which are made in Poland under a Finnish licence, Poland’s prime minister said.
“I bring an order placed yesterday by (Ukrainian) Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal for 100 Rosomaks that will be fabricated here,” Mateusz Morawiecki said during a visit to the Rosomak manufacturing site in the southern Polish town of Siemianowice Slaskie.
The order will be financed through funds that Poland has received from the European Union and US funds that Ukraine has received, he said, without providing details or the overall cost of the contract.
IMF approves $15.6bn Ukraine loan
The International Monetary Fund has said its executive board had approved a four-year $15.6bn loan programme for Ukraine.
The loan will be part of a global $115bn package to support the country’s economy as it battles Russia’s 13-month-old invasion.
Kyiv police search home of contested monastery head
Amid a standoff between the Ukrainian government and the world-famous Monastery of the Caves in Kyiv, police have searched the home of the monastery’s head, Metropolitan Pavel.
“They told me in two words that I am suspected of working for Russia,” Pavel said in a video released by the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti.
He was also summoned for questioning on charges of religious agitation and insulting the Ukrainian president, Pavel said. Pavel denied the accusations.
The dispute over the use of the cave monastery has been going on for months. The Ukrainian leadership suspects the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that is running the monastery of espionage and agitation for Moscow.
Russian winter offensive failing in Ukraine, British intel says
Russian attempts to increase its military control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region have failed, British defence experts said in their latest intelligence assessment.
Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who took command of the country’s “special military operation” in Ukraine on January 11, has tried “to launch a general winter offensive with the aim of extending Russian control over the whole of the Donbas region,” Britain’s Ministry of Defence wrote on Twitter.
“Eighty days on, it is increasingly apparent that this project has failed,” it added.
In several places along the front, “Russian forces have made only marginal gains at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties,” the ministry wrote.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 01 April 2023.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/un6OZVrOda
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/pFl8kpIqs6
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 1, 2023
IOC criticises Ukraine’s Olympics boycott call
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has criticised the Ukrainian government’s call for a boycott of any sporting competitions involving Russians or Belarusians.
“If implemented, such a decision would only hurt the Ukrainian athlete community, and in no way impact the war that the world wants to stop, and that the IOC has so vehemently condemned,” said the IOC in a statement.
“The IOC has always maintained that it is not up to governments to decide which athletes can participate in which international competitions,” it added.
Tennis-Kvitova says Russians, Belarusians should not be allowed back at Wimbledon
Twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has opposed the grass court Grand Slam’s decision to lift its ban on Russian and Belarusian players ahead of this year’s tournament, saying she felt for Ukrainians amid Moscow’s continuing invasion of their country.
Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam to bar players from Russia and its ally Belarus, said on Friday it would allow them to compete as “neutral” athletes, reversing the ban it imposed after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Kvitova, a Czech who won Wimbledon titles in 2011 and 2014, said players from Russia and Belarus should also be banned from the Paris Olympics next year.
“I always state that I’m against the war. I’m just more worried about the Ukrainian people and players,” Kvitova said on Friday after her Miami Open semi-final win over Sorana Cirstea.
Russia takes over UN Security Council presidency
Russia assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council with Ukraine denouncing the move as “the world’s worst April Fool’s joke”.
“The country which systematically violates all fundamental rules of international security is presiding over a body whose only mission is to safeguard and protect international security,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
Presidency of the security council rotates alphabetically among its 15 member nations. The body is controlled by its five permanent members, including the US and Russia.
EU’s Simson welcomes potential halt on Russian LNG imports
Proposals to stop Russian companies from sending liquefied natural gas to European Union nations have been welcomed by EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.
“This is not a law yet … but this is now a very concrete step,” Simson said at a business event in northern Italy.
EU countries agreed on Tuesday to seek a legal option to stop Russian companies from sending liquefied natural gas to EU nations by preventing Russian firms from booking infrastructure capacity.
Russia’s Shoigu promises increased munitions supplies in visit to Ukraine headquarters
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has promised to boost munitions supplies to Russian forces in Ukraine during a visit to the headquarters of Moscow’s troops fighting in the country.
According to footage published by the defence ministry on Telegram, Shoigu is shown presiding over a meeting with senior military officers, including General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s most senior soldier.
Shoigu is shown telling colleagues that Russia will take steps to boost the supply of munitions to troops at the front. “The volume of supplies of the most demanded ammunition has been determined. Necessary measures are being taken to increase them.”