A Russian missile strike killed at least nine people in eastern Ukraine on Friday as a British assessment said Ukrainian troops had been forced to withdraw from parts of the city of Bakhmut, the focus of Moscow’s slow advance through the region.
Diplomacy
* China’s Defence Minister Li Shangfu will visit Russia from April 16-19, and meet Russian military officials, the Chinese Defence Ministry said. US officials have expressed concern China might supply arms to Russia, something Beijing has denied.
* Ukrainian forces are finding more components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy‘s office told Reuters, as Western supplies are squeezed by sanctions.
* European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it would be hard for Europe to trust China if it did not try to find a political solution to the Ukraine crisis based on Russia’s withdrawal from Ukrainian territory.
* Fifteen Russian diplomats expelled by Norway this week had sought to recruit sources, intercept communications and buy advanced technology, the Norwegian PST security police said on Friday.
* Finland’s embassy in Moscow received a letter containing an unknown powder and has reported the matter to the Russian authorities, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.
Economy
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has written to Russia, Ukraine and Turkey to raise concerns about the implementation of a deal that allows the safe wartime export of grain from several Ukrainian Black Sea ports, a UN spokesman said on Friday.
* Ukraine secured promises of $5 billion in additional funding to support its fight against Russia amid “fruitful meetings” in Washington this week, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.
* Ukraine’s security service said on Thursday it had seized more than $96 million worth of assets belonging to exiled billionaire Vadym Novynskyi, but a representative for Novynskyi said he was no longer their owner.
*Hungary abandoned a Budapest-based Russian bank this week because US sanctions had “ruined” it, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, adding that Hungary would comply with sanctions on Russia but continue to speak out against them.
Sport
* Ukraine barred its national sports teams from competing in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic events which include competitors from Russia and Belarus, the sports ministry said in a decree on Friday.
Diplomacy
* China’s Defence Minister Li Shangfu will visit Russia from April 16-19, and meet Russian military officials, the Chinese Defence Ministry said. US officials have expressed concern China might supply arms to Russia, something Beijing has denied.
* Ukrainian forces are finding more components from China in Russian weapons used in Ukraine, a senior adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy‘s office told Reuters, as Western supplies are squeezed by sanctions.
* European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it would be hard for Europe to trust China if it did not try to find a political solution to the Ukraine crisis based on Russia’s withdrawal from Ukrainian territory.
* Fifteen Russian diplomats expelled by Norway this week had sought to recruit sources, intercept communications and buy advanced technology, the Norwegian PST security police said on Friday.
* Finland’s embassy in Moscow received a letter containing an unknown powder and has reported the matter to the Russian authorities, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.
Economy
* UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has written to Russia, Ukraine and Turkey to raise concerns about the implementation of a deal that allows the safe wartime export of grain from several Ukrainian Black Sea ports, a UN spokesman said on Friday.
* Ukraine secured promises of $5 billion in additional funding to support its fight against Russia amid “fruitful meetings” in Washington this week, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.
* Ukraine’s security service said on Thursday it had seized more than $96 million worth of assets belonging to exiled billionaire Vadym Novynskyi, but a representative for Novynskyi said he was no longer their owner.
*Hungary abandoned a Budapest-based Russian bank this week because US sanctions had “ruined” it, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, adding that Hungary would comply with sanctions on Russia but continue to speak out against them.
Sport
* Ukraine barred its national sports teams from competing in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic events which include competitors from Russia and Belarus, the sports ministry said in a decree on Friday.