Putin making ‘impossible demands’ from ‘shocked’ officers & plans attack on Zelenskyy homeland

Putin and Macron speak on phone

Earlier today the presidents of France and Russia took part in a phone call.

Russian state media have reported that the Kremlin has said that Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart that the West is “ignoring Ukrainian war crimes”.

The Kremlin also said that the West must stop supplying arms to Ukraine.

Putin has previously made unfounded claims that Ukraine is committing war crimes.

Russian forces have been accused of carrying out atrocities, including at Bucha.

‘Powerful assault’ under way

A Ukrainian military commander says Russian forces have launched another offensive at the Azovstal steelworks plant in Mariupol.

Sviatoslav Palamar, the deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov military unit said in a statement on social media: “A powerful assault on the territory of the Azovstal plant is under way with support from armoured vehicles and tanks.”

He says Russian forces are attempting “to land a large number of infantry by boat”.

Moment Ukrainian drone sinks two Russian gunboats after ‘direct hit’

This is the extraordinary moment Ukraine blitzed TWO Russian Navy boats in a deadly drone attack – sending Putin’s butchers sinking to a watery grave.

Astonishing footage shows what is understood to be Turkish made Bayraktar TB2 drones unleashing hell on two fast-attack boats in the Black Sea.

The infrared video – released by the Ukrainian armed forces – shows one of the Raptor-class craft floating off the coast of the war ravaged country.

But moments later, it is pounded in a direct strike from the sky, sending an enormous fireball into the air as it’s blown to smithereens

While another clip appears to show a boat accelerating shortly before it’s annihilated in a direct strike – obliterating the entire vessel in a hellish inferno.

India’s PM calls for ceasefire

Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, has called for a ceasefire in Ukraine and is urging Kyiv and Moscow to engage in peace talks.

The PM is currently visiting Copenhagen to meet his Danish counterpart.

He says India wants “an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for the adoption of dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the problem”.

More evacuees arrive in  Zaporizhzhia

According to reports more evacuees from the Azovstal steelworks have arrived in Zaporizhzhia.

Some 156 evacuees have arrived, many of them women and children, after they were rescued on Sunday.

Russia attacking Azovstal

The Russian Defence Ministry has said that their troops started shelling the steel plant in Mariupol after Ukrainian soldiers moved into firing positions, according to the RIA news agency.

The ministry told the news agency that as the ceasefire was declared, “Azov and Ukrainian servicemen, who are stationed on the plant, took advantage of it. They came out of the basement, they took up firing positions on the territory and in the factory buildings.

“Now units of the Russian army and the Donetsk People’s Republic, using artillery and aviation, are beginning to destroy these firing positions.”

Pope says he requested meeting with Putin as compares invasion to genocide

Pope Francis says he requested a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, while comparing the scale of the bloodshed to Rwanda’s genocide.

In an interview in Italy’s Corriere Della Sera newspaper, the Pontiff claims he sent a message to Putin around 20 days into the conflict saying that he “was willing to go to Moscow”.

“We have not yet received a response and we are still insisting, though I fear that Putin cannot, and does not, want to have this meeting at this time,” Francis said.

“But how is it possible to not stop such brutality? Twenty-five years ago, we lived through the same thing with Rwanda,” he said.

About 800,000 people were killed between April and July 1994 as the extremist Hutu regime tried to wipe out Rwanda’s Tutsi minority, in one of the 20th century’s biggest massacres.

Putin signs decree on retaliatory sanctions against West

Russian Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on retaliatory economic sanctions in response to the “unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organisations”, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

According to the decree, Russia will forbid the export of products and raw materials to people and entities that it has sanctioned.

The decree also prohibits transactions with foreign individuals and companies hit by Russia’s retaliatory sanctions and permits Russian counterparties not to fulfill obligations towards them.

PM says threats against British diplomats in Ukraine ‘beyond the pale’

The Prime Minister this morning told Good Morning Britain that any threat or attack on British diplomats in Ukraine is “totally beyond the pale” and there is “no justification for it”.

He said the UK has “led the world in helping the Ukrainians to protect themselves against wanton aggression, barbaric aggression”.

He later added that the UK has also “marshalled the world in delivering a very tough package of economic sanctions”.

MoD: Russia has failed to ‘dominate’ in Ukraine

The Ministry of Defence said that despite Moscow’s huge increase in military spending in recent years, strategic and execution failures have resulted in a failure to “dominate” Ukraine.

In its latest intelligence update, the department said: “Russia’s military is now significantly weaker, both materially and conceptually, as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.

“Recovery from this will be exacerbated by sanctions.

“This will have a lasting impact on Russia’s ability to deploy conventional military force.”

UK ‘needs to do all it can’ to help Ukrainians, says trade secretary

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the UK needs to do “all it can” to help support the Ukrainians in light of the Government’s £300 million package of defensive military aid for Ukraine.

Asked why the Government is sending the money to Kyiv while increasing national insurance, she told LBC: “Because we need to do all that we can to support them in their fight to ensure that this illegal war of Putin’s fails.

“If we don’t stand up for democracy and freedom, there is nothing … but it’s about freedom.

“The Prime Minister, being the leader of one of the great democratic nations of our world, is determined both to speak out and call others to help, but also to help in practical ways.

“I think all of us are wanting to see him do that and championing the work that’s been done to support them.”

France’s Macron to speak with Russia’s Putin on phone today

French President Emmanuel Macron will speak with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin via the phone at around midday Paris time later on Tuesday, said Macron’s office.

Russian forces fired rockets at the encircled steel works in Ukraine’s Mariupol and smoke darkened the sky above the plant, where officials say 200 civilians are still trapped despite evacuations, while the EU prepared to sanction Russian oil.

Macron had last spoken to Putin on March 29.

Labour calls on Government to ‘go further on things like sanctions’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the party supports the provision of military equipment to Ukraine, but called on the Government to “go further on things like sanctions”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We support the provision of more military equipment to Ukraine and, whatever the ups and downs of local elections, whatever the timing of this particular announcement, I think, for all of those suffering in Ukraine, they need to see political parties in the UK standing together in support of Ukraine.

“It’s interesting it’s two days before the local elections, but when I think of the images coming out of Ukraine, bombing of maternity hospitals, I don’t think our arguments about the timing cut much ice.

“On the substance, we support the provision of military equipment and I’ve been clear on that, and we’ve had intelligence briefing from the Government and I think the in-principle position of all political parties that we stand up for Ukraine, stand with Ukraine, stand against Russian aggression is very important.

“I do want the Government to go further on things like sanctions, I think they need to go further and faster, and the refugee situation needs to be sorted out much, much more quickly, but in principle there is that unity.”

PM admits UK could have ‘acted faster’ in helping Ukrainian refugees

Boris Johnson has admitted the UK could have reacted faster in helping Ukrainian refugees.

The PM this morning said “large numbers” of those fleeing the war are now coming to Britain.

In an interview with Susanna Reid on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, He defended current efforts to take in refugees.

“Well, we have done a huge amount to help Ukrainian women and children in the area but we’re now seeing large numbers come to the UK,” he said.

“So far 86,000 visas have been issued and 27,000 are already here and I want to say ‘thank you’ – 27,000 is a lot and it’s growing fast and I want to pay tribute to all those who are helping to look after Ukrainians.

“Could we have done it faster? Yes, perhaps we could.”

Asked about the possibility of offering visa-free travel to Ukrainian refugees, Mr Johnson said: “It’s important to protect the system from those who might want to abuse it.

“It’s also important to protect the women and children from coming to somewhere where they’re not going to get the welcome that we would want, so that’s why the screening and all the work we’ve done to match up people, and the results are starting to be really excellent, you’re seeing large numbers now.”

Home Secretary could face legal action over Ukraine visa delays

Would-be sponsors under the Homes for Ukraine visa scheme are threatening the Government with legal action on behalf of hundreds of Ukrainian refugees who have spent weeks waiting to come to the UK.

A class action lawsuit is being prepared over “inordinate and unreasonable delays” in processing hundreds of visa applications made in March.

Figures shared with the PA news agency last week, compiled by would-be hosts, show there were at least 800 Ukrainian refugees still waiting for visas after applying within the first two weeks of the scheme opening.

The groups behind the action, Vigil 4 Visas and Taking Action Over the Homes for Ukraine Visa Delays, say the delays have put people in Ukraine and border countries at risk, and heaped “considerable pressure and strain” on UK hosts.

Lawyers for the groups are planning to send a pre-action protocol letter to the Home Office this week asking it to “sort out the endless muddles and tangles”.

They could then apply for a judicial review of the Government’s visa-processing policy.

Katherine Klinger, who has helped organise vigils outside the Home Office over the past week, told PA: “Perhaps the most striking thing I’ve noticed is the utter despair, shame and sense of responsibility so many hosts report.

“Hosts are in tears sometimes when they report to us what has happened in the past six weeks – dozens of emails, phone calls, letters, trips to the Home Office, MPs’ involvement etc – it’s very humbling.”

PM hails Ukraine’s ‘finest hour’ in speech to Kyiv parliament

Boris Johnson will salute the resistance of Ukrainians in the face of the brutal Russian invasion, telling them it is their country’s “finest hour” in an address to the parliament in Kyiv.

In a speech by video link to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday, the Prime Minister will echo the words of Winston Churchill as he sets out a new £300 million package of support for the Ukrainian military.

Downing Street said it will include electronic warfare equipment, a counter battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night vision devices, as Russia’s offensive in the Donbas region continues.

It follows Mr Johnson’s unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital last month, in a show of support and solidarity with president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“When my country faced the threat of invasion during the Second World War, our Parliament, like yours, continued to meet throughout the conflict, and the British people showed such unity and resolve that we remember our time of greatest peril as our finest hour,” Mr Johnson is expected to say.

“This is Ukraine’s finest hour, an epic chapter in your national story that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come.

“Your children and grandchildren will say that Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor counts for nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.”

‘Ukrainians believe Russia must be now beaten’ in combat says UK ambassador

Ukraine are past the point of negotiations with Russia as they approach the “63rd day of a three-day invasion”, according to the country’s ambassador to the UK.

Vadym Prystaiko told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “When we had the chance to negotiate with them and come to some form of neutral points, neutrality itself as a political surrogate factor was considered.

“Now, these negotiations have stalled, for obvious reasons after the atrocities in Bucha. Many Ukrainians can’t even imagine how we could sit at the table of negotiations with these people now.

“The reasonable politicians will remind us that actually we have to sit at the table, because all the worst wars ended up in forms of negotiations. But, frankly speaking, many Ukrainians believe that we have to defeat them physically now.

“Maybe that’s better for Russians. Maybe they will be able to see that this regime is bringing them down along with the whole of Russia.”

According to the UN more than 3,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed

According to the UN’s human rights office the death toll of civilians in Ukraine has exceeded 3,000 people as of Monday.

Since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February, the UN has recorded 3,153 civilian deaths in Ukraine, but it estimates the real toll is likely to be “considerably higher”.

Mystery First Lady

Putin is widely rumoured to be dating a glamorous gymnastics champion  Alina Kabaeva.

The Olympic gold medal winner and TV favourite has not had any other suitors since 2008 despite being one of Russia’s most eligible women.

She was first romantically linked with Putin a decade ago.

The Kremlin has denied she is his secret First Lady but rumours have persisted including claims she gave birth to at least one child.

One popular Russian newspaper called her the “First Lady, but in the shadows”.

In September 2017 she was pictured with what looked like a wedding ring during an event in Italy. 

Bomb from Ukrainian drone flies through sunroof of Russian soldiers’ vehicle 

Dramatic footage shows the moment a bomb from a Ukrainian drone flies through the sunroof of a Russian vehicle sending soldiers running for their lives.

In the clip, the bomb can be seen in the air, plummeting towards the target and falling directly into the vehicle.

It then explodes, sending smoke up the sky as terrified Russian troops are fleeing the scene.

It is unclear where the attack took place.

The video was shared on Twitter by government advisor Anton Gerashchenko who said the hit was executed by soldiers from Ukraine’s 92nd brigade.

Future of ISS hangs in the balance

Russia could pull out of the ISS within 12 months throwing future space missions into disarray.

After weeks of threats, Putin’s space chief said the country will quit the space station for good.

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin blamed the move on mounting sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

He pledged to give US counterparts Nasa a year’s notice.

It’s unclear how partners will be able to continue without Russia’s involvement.

Nasa has long relied on Roscosmos to blast its astronauts into space, though it will soon shift towards Elon Musk’s SpaceX for that.

Russia also looks after engines that control the station’s orbit and location.

“The decision has been taken already, we’re not obliged to talk about it publicly,” he told Russian media.

“I can say this only — in accordance with our obligations, we’ll inform our partners about the end of our work on the ISS with a year’s notice.”

Russia confirms launch of TOP-SECRET military spacecraft

Russia has launched a new military spacecraft designated Kosmos 2555 into orbit around the Earth.

Using Russia’s new Angara 1.2 rocket, the payload was launched into orbit on April 29 by Kremlin officials.

The launch took place at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the town of Mirny, which is predominantly known for its diamond mines.

Kremlin officials said in a statement: “From the State Test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk Region, the combat crew of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces [VKS] successfully launched an Angara-1.2 light-class launch vehicle with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defence.

“The launch of the carrier rocket and the launch of the spacecraft into the calculated orbit took place in the normal mode.

“Two minutes after the launch, the Angara-1.2 launch vehicle was accepted for escort by ground controls of the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre.”

Germany minister makes oil claims

Economy Minister Robert Habeck earlier said that Germany is not ready to ban gas but would be able to deal with a ban on Russian oil by the end of the year.

“We have managed to reach a situation where Germany is able to bear an oil embargo,” Habeck told a news conference. But he warned this didn’t mean there would be no consequences.

Talks over how the EU can wean itself off Russian energy supplies have been taking place in Brussels.

Earlier member states remained divided on a Russian energy embargo.