Russia Ukraine war latest: UK calls Roman Abramovich poisoning ‘very concerning’ as peace talks with Russia resume

The British defence ministry has said that Kyiv remains a target for Russian troops, though Ukrainian counter-attacks have met with some success.

“Ukrainian Forces have continued to conduct localised counter attacks to the north west of Kyiv – including at Irpen, Bucha and Hostomel. These attacks have had some success and the Russians have been pushed back from a number of positions,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

“However, Russia still poses a significant threat to the city through their strike capability,” it added.

In Mariupol, the Russian forces have maintained their offensive with continuous heavy shelling of the city, however the centre of the city remains under Ukrainian control, the officials said.

“Elsewhere, Russian Forces are maintaining blocking positions while attempting to reorganise and reset their forces,” the defence ministry officials said.

In a set of fresh economic sanctions on Russia, Japan has banned the export of luxury cars and other items to Moscow starting 5 April, officials said.

Japan’s ministry of economy, trade and industry said that it will ban the exports of luxury cars, jewellery, art works, motorcycles, liquors, cosmetics, fashion items among others.

Pentagon officials have said they may seek more money from Congress to help Ukraine fight the Russian invasion.

This could also include financial help to replenish the US’s own artillery as it is sending weapons to Kyiv, the Pentagon officials said.

Pentagon comptroller Michael McCord said: “We’ll have to look at this again, probably in the summer, to be prepared for some of the more difficult options.

“In the initial phases, at least, obviously we have been running through that drawdown at a fairly high rate. So, were that to continue, yes, we probably would need to address that again in the future,” Mr McCord said.

It is still too early, officials said, to predict how quickly Ukrainian forces will exhaust the weapons and ammunitions the US is sending and how much the US will need to replace it.

Just days after it was rescued from Ukraine, a puppy has been left with multiple skull fractures after it was stolen from a car in Essex.

The incident was described by 23-year-old Jolanta Marczyk, who works at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and drove from her native Poland across the border to Lviv to bring eight-month-old dachshund Brandy to safety from Vladimir Putin’s war.

However, when she drove with the puppy back to the UK on Thursday evening, it was said to have been stolen from Ms Marczyk’s car in Grays, Essex.

According to a neighbour, two of the windows of Ms Marczyk’s vehicle were smashed, while footage taken by another witness appeared to show two people running from the car – with one clutching a puppy apparently snatched through its window.

Andy Gregory reports on this here:

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has said that the reports of Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich suffering suspected poisoning during participation in peace talks are “very concerning”.

Mr Abramovich was among a group who suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning after attending the peace talks in Ukraine, according to reports.

The suspected attempt at poisoning the Russian-origin billionaire was not intended to kill him and the two Ukrainian representatives who were also affected, a lead Russian investigator with Bellingcat has said.

The FCDO said the UK will “continue to assist” by implementing tough sanctions on Russian president Vladimir Putin’s regime as well as by providing defensive and humanitarian support to put Ukraine “in the strongest possible negotiating position”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia would only resort to the use of nuclear weapons in the event of a threat to the country’s existence, and not as a result of “any outcome” in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

In an interview with PBS Newshour, Mr Peskov said: “Any outcome of the operation (in Ukraine), of course, is not a reason for usage of a nuclear weapon.

“We have a security concept that very clearly states that only when there is a threat for existence of the state, in our country, we can use and we will actually use nuclear weapons to eliminate the threat for the existence of our country,” Mr Peskov said.

This comes days after he had refused to rule out Russia’s use of nuclear weapons, citing an “existential threat” as justification.

Pushing for “a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine”, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said he is launching an initiative to immediately explore arrangements to meet the rising demand for aid.

The UN chief has pressed for immediate progress on delivery of essential aid and food for the millions still trapped in the war-marred country and sought political negotiations to end the war.

Mr Guterres said that he has asked his undersecretary-general Martin Griffiths to explore the possibility of a ceasefire between the two countries, adding that some contacts have already been made.

The UNGA has called for an immediate end to hostilities in Ukraine twice already — on 2 March and 24 March — with an overwhelming majority of votes from nearly 140 nations.

Workers at the Chernobyl site have said that the Russian soldiers are driving around in armoured vehicles through the highly toxic “red forest” surrounding the nuclear power plant site without radiation protection, blowing up clouds of radioactive dust.

Calling the act “suicidal” for the soldiers, a Chernobyl employee said that the radioactive dust was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies.

The power plant’s reactor exploded in 1986, triggering the worst civil nuclear disaster ever recorded, the aftermath of which is still seen in babies born in the region.

Last month, Ukraine’s state nuclear inspectorate had confirmed an increase in radiation levels at Chernobyl due to heavy military vehicles disturbing the contaminated soil.

Emily Goddard has the full report here:

Hours ahead of the resumption of peace talks today between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey, air raid sirens sounded in cities across Ukraine as officials from the besieged country have said they are not hopeful of a breakthrough.

Kyiv has maintained its demand for a ceasefire without giving up its territory and sovereignty.

“We are not trading people, land or sovereignty,” said Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.

“The minimum programme will be humanitarian questions, and the maximum programme is reaching an agreement on a ceasefire,” the minister said.

Vadym Denysenko, an adviser with Ukraine’s interior ministry, said that he doubted there would be any breakthrough.

Similarly, on the Russian side, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that the talks have not been fruitful so far in ending the conflict. No substantial progress has come so far but he said it was important they continued in person.

The resumption of talks between Ukraine and Russia to end the ongoing war in Europe comes after a break of more than two weeks.

Ukrainian minister Lesia Vasylenko has said that streets in the besieged city of Mariupol have turned into a cemetery, with “graves everywhere”.

“The streets of #Mariupol are a cemetery. Graves everywhere. 5,000 Ukrainians killed, 200 of them children. #StopPutinNOW,” the minister said on Twitter.

She also shared a photo of a makeshift grave in Mariupol outside an apartment.