WRAP | Ukraine warns talks with Russia may collapse as battles rage in east
Image: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
April 30 2022 - 17:00
Russia says checkpoint in Kursk region shelled from Ukraine
The governor of Russia's western Kursk region said several shells were fired on Saturday at a checkpoint near its border from the direction of Ukraine.
Speaking in a video posted on his Telegram channel, governor Roman Starovoit said that there were no casualties or damage.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 16:30
WATCH | Civilians suffer as fight for Mariupol continues
April 30 2022 - 16:00
Russia says risks of nuclear war must be kept to minimum -TASS
Russia believes the risks of nuclear war should be kept to a minimum and that any armed conflict between nuclear powers should be prevented, the TASS news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying on Saturday.
Vladimir Yermakov, the foreign ministry's head of nuclear non-proliferation, said all nuclear powers must stick to the logic laid out in official documents aimed at preventing nuclear war."
Russia clearly follows this understanding," Yermakov was quoted as saying.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 15:00
France to strengthen military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine -Elysee
French President Emmanuel Macron told Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call on Saturday that France will strengthen its military and humanitarian support for Ukraine, the French presidency said in a statement.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 14:00
Russia says strategic stability dialogue with U.S. 'frozen' -TASS
Dialogue between Moscow and Washington on strategic stability is formally "frozen", the TASS news agency cited a Russian foreign ministry official as saying on Saturday.
Vladimir Yermakov, the foreign ministry's head of nuclear non-proliferation, said those contacts could be resumed once Russia completes what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Yermakov said Moscow believed the United States intended to finalise projects to deploy medium- and short-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
He gave no evidence to back up the assertion.
"The emergence of such weapons in those regions will further worsen the situation and fuel the arms race," he was quoted as saying.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 13:30
WATCH | Battle for Eastern Ukraine: Civilians facing a desperate situation
April 30 2022 - 13:00
Ukraine says Russia pounding Donbas, failing to take targets
Russian forces pounded Ukraine's eastern Donbas region on Saturday but failed to capture three target areas, Ukraine's military said, while Moscow said Western sanctions on Russia and arms shipments to Ukraine were impeding peace negotiations.
The Russians were trying to capture the areas of Lyman in Donetsk and Sievierodonetsk and Popasna in Luhansk, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a daily update. "Not succeeding - the fighting continues," it said.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 12:00
Russia expects trade with China to reach $200 bln by 2024 -Ifax
Russia's foreign ministry on Saturday said it expected commodity flows with China to grow and trade with Beijing to reach $200 billion by 2024, the Interfax news agency reported, as Moscow looks east in the face of growing western isolation.
The ministry said Chinese companies must be wary of the risk secondary sanctions pose, but said Beijing was ready to expand its cooperation with Moscow, Interfax reported.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 11:30
WATCH | Russia's foreign minister blames UK for lack of Ukraine peace talks
April 30 2022 - 11:00
Russia says it hit 389 targets in Ukraine overnight
Russia said on Saturday that its artillery units had struck 389 Ukrainian targets overnight, including 35 control points, 15 arms and ammunition depots, and several areas where Ukrainian troops and equipment were concentrated.
Russia's defence ministry said that its missiles had hit four ammunition and fuel depots.Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 10:00
Shelling in Russia's Bryansk region hits parts of oil terminal - Russian news agencies
Russian air defences prevented a Ukrainian aircraft from entering the Bryansk region on Saturday, Russian news outlets reported citing the region's governor, adding that as a result shelling hit parts of an oil terminal and adjacent territory.
"There are no victims," RIA news agency cited the governor, Alexander Bogomaz, as saying.
He added that a logistics building at the terminal was damaged.
Reuters
Image: REUTERS/Jorge Silva
April 30 2022 - 09:00
Ukraine says Russia stole 'several hundred thousand tonnes' of grain
Russian forces have stolen "several hundred thousand tonnes" of grain in the areas of Ukraine they occupy, Ukraine's deputy agriculture minister said on Saturday.
Speaking to Ukrainian national TV, Taras Vysotskiy expressed concern that most of what he said was 1.5 million tonnes of grain stored in occupied territory could also be stolen by Russian forces.
Ukraine's foreign ministry accused Russia on Thursday of stealing grain in territory it has occupied, an act it said increased the threat to global food security.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 08:00
Ukraine warns talks with Russia may collapse as battles rage in east
Ukraine and Russia traded accusations over shaky talks to end a war now in its third month as Russia pounded areas in the east of the country and U.S. lawmakers vowed a massive new weapons package for Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in remarks published early on Saturday, said lifting Western sanctions on Russia was part of the peace negotiations, which he said were “difficult” but continue daily by video link.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Polish journalists that chances were “high” that the talks, which have not been held in person for a month, would end because of Russia's “playbook on murdering people,” the Interfax news agency said.
Ukraine accuses Russian troops of atrocities in their withdrawal from areas near Kyiv. Moscow denies the claims.
April 30 2022 - 07:30
Ukraine to end fuel shortages soon, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine will soon stamp out fuel shortages, even though Russian forces have damaged a number of oil depots, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday.
This week, Russia struck Ukraine's main fuel producer, the Kremenchuk oil refinery, as well as several other large depots.
"Queues and rising prices at gas stations are seen in many regions of our country," Zelenskyy said in a nightly video speech.
"The occupiers are deliberately destroying the infrastructure for the production, supply and storage of fuel."
Russia has also blocked our ports, so there are no immediate solutions to replenish the deficit," he added. "But government officials promise that within a week, maximum two, a system of fuel supply to Ukraine will be at work that will prevent shortages."
In a statement, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the shortages would be eliminated within a week, as Ukraine's operators had secured contracts with European suppliers.
Reuters
April 30 2022 - 07:00
Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now
• Ukraine and Russia traded accusations over shaky talks to end a war now in its third month, as Russia pounded areas in the east of the country and U.S. lawmakers vowed a massive new weapons package for Kyiv.
• Russia was attacking the entire Donetsk front in the east with rockets, artillery, mortar bombs and aircraft to prevent the Ukrainians from regrouping, Zelenskyy's office said.
• Russia said a missile strike on Kyiv destroyed a rocket plant. Ukraine said the attack, when the U.N. secretary-general was in the capital, killed a producer with U.S.-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
• Russia said it used a diesel submarine in the Black Sea to strike Ukrainian military targets with Kalibr cruise missiles, the first time Moscow has announced the use of its submarine fleet to hit its neighbour. Reports of battlefield developments could not be immediately verified by Reuters.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said lifting Western sanctions on Russia was part of peace talks to end the war. Zelenskiy said chances were "high" that the talks would end because of Russia's "playbook on murdering people".
• U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hopes to pass Biden's $33 billion (R520bn) aid package "as soon as possible."
• The United States does not believe that there is a threat of Russia using nuclear weapons despite a recent escalation in Moscow's rhetoric, a senior U.S. defence official said.
Reuters