Russia-Ukraine war news: Russian strikes leave 1m without power

This live blog is now closed. You can stay updated and follow our coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine here.

You can also read how Central Asian countries are navigating the war here and how Slovakia’s presidential elections have become a choice between the West and Russia here.

We’re closing this live blog soon. Here’s a recap of some of the day’s key events:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia uses 90 missiles and 60 drones in overnight attacks on energy infrastructure.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia is at “war” due to Western intervention in Ukraine.
• The Kremlin warns the EU against plans to impose tariffs on its grain exports and use profits from frozen Russian assets to arm Ukraine.
• Russia’s FSB security service says it has arrested seven Moscow residents with links to a pro-Ukraine paramilitary.
• China’s Eurasia envoy, Li Hui, says Beijing sees significant differences between Russia and Ukraine regarding a negotiated settlement to end the war.

Russia’s newly appointed ambassador to Japan warns Tokyo of “severe consequences” and retaliation if Patriot missile systems manufactured in Japan end up in Ukraine, according to the state news agency RIA Novosti.

The report cited Nikolai Nozdrev as saying Moscow will be watching closely to see where Japanese arms exports end up after Tokyo softened its export rules last year.

“Accordingly, we will be watching carefully to make sure that the Patriots delivered do not end up in Ukraine because if that happens, there will be the most severe consequences for bilateral [Russia-Japan] relations, including our retaliatory steps,” the agency quoted Nozdrev as saying.

“Even despite the military, financial and political assistance provided, Ukraine is inevitably moving towards military defeat. On the battlefield, things are extremely deplorable in Kyiv,” Vasily Nebenzya tells the UN Security Council.

The diplomat claimed that thanks to the successful offensive of the Russian army, the Ukrainian “militants are retreating in all directions”.

Ukraine has attacked the Borisov district of the Belgorod region with a drone, damaging a communications facility. That’s according to the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“The Borisov region is under fire from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the village of Nikitskoye, an infrastructure communications facility was attacked by a kamikaze drone. There were no casualties. There is damage at the facility,” he wrote on Telegram.

Gladkov also said that the village of Tsapovka came under fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces; according to preliminary information, there were no casualties.

“Several shells hit the territory of an agricultural enterprise – there is damage in one of the buildings, communications were also damaged,” he added.

According to Gladkov, on the outskirts of the village of Bogun-Gorodok, three explosive devices were dropped from a quadcopter; there were no casualties; the roof of a private residential building was damaged.

The White House has condemned Russia’s overnight attacks on Ukraine, saying Republicans in Congress must end the “inexcusable” blocking of military aid to Kyiv.

“It is critical we provide Ukraine additional air defence interceptors to defend against these attacks as soon as possible. Lives are on the line, and any further delay is inexcusable,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

“House Republicans must pass the national security supplemental now so that we can provide this vital equipment to Ukraine.”

The US Senate has passed Democratic President Joe Biden’s supplemental request for $60bn in military assistance for Kyiv, but for months, Republicans in the House of Representatives have blocked it.

Three anti-aircraft missiles have struck a cultural centre in the town of Semenivka, in Novrogod-Siversky district of Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, according to the country’s national police.

“It is known in advance about the wounded civilian man – he was hospitalised. The other victim refused to be hospitalised,” the police statement published on Telegram said.

European Council President Charles Michel has also responded to Russia’s comments that it was at “war” due to Western intervention on Ukraine’s side.

“We must be lucid, and we must tell to our citizens all across the EU that if we want peace, if we want security and stability, it is extremely important to improve our defence capabilities and to build a true European Union in defence,” Michel said at the end of an EU summit in Brussels.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also said the comments only prove that the Kremlin betrayed Russians in the last two years by denying that they are at war.

Since the war began in February 2022, Russia has refused to refer to the situation in Ukraine as a “war” but instead called it a “special military operation”.

Russia will not stop at the Donbas and Crimea, French President Emmanuel Macron says at the end of an EU summit in Brussels.

When asked about the Kremlin’s comments about regarding itself as at war due to the West’s intervention on Ukraine’s side, Macron said: “By using this term, one is also even opening up uncertainty about Russia’s military objectives.”

“We are not intimidated by Russia. And we think this is fair, that the revenues of those foreign assets will be used for Ukraine because they are victim of this aggression launched by Russia,” President of the European Council Charles Michel tells reporters after a summit of EU leaders.

Earlier, the Kremlin warned of “catastrophic consequences” if the EU proceeded with plans to confiscate Russian assets held in Western banks and use them to buy weapons for Ukraine.

“We have heard statements from Brussels that the proceeds of our assets don’t belong to anyone,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“This is not so. They belong to the holders of the assets, the owners of the assets.”

“Today at around 1:40 pm [11:40 GMT] in the Novgorod-Siversky district, an enemy drone hit a minibus with civilians. According to preliminary information, three people were injured,” Vyacheslav Chaus, the head of the regional military administration, says on Telegram.

He also reported that three explosions were heard in the town of Semenivka.

Lithuania’s defence ministry has announced the delivery of anti-drone systems to Ukraine.

Its statement said the military aid already provided to Ukraine within the framework of the national defence system, includes “a wide range of weapons, ammunition, drones, anti-drones, military training, repair of heavy equipment and other assistance”.

The ministry also said that Lithuania has a long-term plan to support Ukraine, which includes a package of military aid in the amount of 200 million euros ($216m) for the period between 2024 and 2026.

The blocklist has embarrassed about 50 significant companies identified as operating in Russia and indirectly helping the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

But people familiar with the talks told the Reuters news agency that countries, angered by the naming of their companies, had exerted concerted pressure.

“It’s China, but not only China,” said one person with direct knowledge of the matter, pointing to pressure from France to remove retailer Auchan and Leroy Merlin, a home improvement and gardening retailer, from the list.

A second source said Austria, China, France, and Hungary had all exerted pressure on Kyiv over the list, while another source said there was frustration with Ukraine for singling out companies from countries that supported Kyiv.

The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces says Russia is preparing 100,000 troops, which could be used for a possible new offensive later this year or to replenish units.

“It will not necessarily be an offensive, perhaps they will replenish their units that lost combat capability but there is a possibility that, at the beginning of the summer, they may have certain forces to conduct offensive operations,” Lieutenant-General Oleksandr Pavlyuk told a local television channel.

Deputy Defence Minister Ivan Havryliuk also said in televised comments that Russia had a seven-to-one ammunition advantage over Ukraine.

“I think that in a month or two this difference will be significantly reduced, and there will not be such a large ratio in favour of the Russian Federation,” he said.

In a sign of hardening rhetoric in Russia, the Kremlin said earlier it now regarded itself as at war due to Western intervention on Ukraine’s side.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says Ukraine’s lack of air defences has led to Russia’s wave of attacks.

“We choked the weapons supply, we failed to provide enough air defence, and now we ask Ukrainians to sit on their hands while cruise missiles land on their families,” he said on X.

“Such mistakes are setting the course of the entire century. And there is no justification for any of this,” Landsbergis added.

This week’s televised debate among Slovakia’s nine presidential candidates often sounded as though it was taking place in Moscow.

“As president, I want to extricate Slovakia from the dungeon of nations that is the European Union,” declared Milan Nahlik, a policeman who unsuccessfully ran for parliament four years ago.

“As president, I would vote for the lifting of sanctions against Russia because they are contrary to international law,” said Stefan Harabin, a former Supreme Court judge and third most popular candidate as he echoed Russian arguments that sanctions need to be approved by the UN Security Council.

“Mr Harabin, you are directly responsible for the large and forceful manner in which we handed over our national sovereignty to Brussels. And today you act as if you had nothing to do with it,” shot back Marian Kotleba, a neo-Nazi candidate trailing in the polls.

Read more on Slovakia’s election here.

Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, has denied that Washington demanded that Ukraine stop attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure.

“This is fictitious information. After two years of a full-scale war, no one will dictate to Ukraine the terms of waging this war,” he said in an interview with Russia’s Dozhd media outlet.

“Within the framework of international law, Ukraine can ‘degrease’ Russian instruments of warfare. Fuel is a basic tool for warfare. Ukraine will destroy the fuel infrastructure,” Podolyak added.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has condemned Russia’s “brutal” attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

“Russia continues its brutal attacks against Ukraine’s population with overnight drone and missile bombing of energy infrastructures, killing and wounding dozens, jeopardizing the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. This must stop! All responsible will be held to account,” he wrote on X.

Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov says a Russian missile attack has “completely” cut off the electricity and heat supply.

“The city is completely without power, and as a result, the water and heating supply are not working,” he said in a video posted on Telegram.

“Utilities and power engineers need time to cope with the challenges posed by this hostile shelling … I ask everyone to stay calm and remain patient.”

Other areas across Ukraine have also reported blackouts, including at least 200,000 in the western Khmelnytskyi region and about 260,000 in the southern region of Odesa.