Ukraine claims to have struck a base belonging to a Russian rocket brigade that conducted a deadly strike on the city of Sumy on Palm Sunday.
“(A base) of the 448th missile brigade of the Russian occupiers was hit, a secondary detonation of ammunition was recorded. The results of the strike are being clarified,” the military said in a statement on Telegram.
Footage taken on the side of a road appears to show a huge fire roaring at the base, which is based in Kursk, late last night.
Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier today that Ukraine urgently needed air defence systems after Russian missile strikes, including on Sumy, which killed 34 people and injured 100 more.
“Absolutely everyone sees how acute Ukraine’s need for air defence systems and missiles is. We talked about this a lot today,” the Ukrainian president told Mark Rutte, secretary general of Nato, during a visit to the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa.
Mr Rutte insisted that Nato’s support for Ukraine was “unwavering” but his visit came as the Trump administration blocked the G7 from releasing a statement condemning Russia’s strike.
A source told Bloomberg that news that the US was “working to preserve the space to negotiate peace”, meaning it will hold back on criticising Russian strikes.
Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected Steve Witkoff’s remarks on how to bring about peace in Ukraine.
Mr Witkoff, a special envoy for Donald Trump, said peace centred around “five territories” – presumably the four regions Vladimir Putin illegally annexed in 2022, plus Crimea, which Russia invaded in 2014.
Responding to his comments, Mr Zelensky said: “Ukraine is a sovereign state, and only the Ukrainian people can speak about its territories.
“All territories belong to the unitary state of Ukraine. Once again – only the Ukrainian people can speak about our territories. And you know what our red lines are – we will never recognise any temporarily occupied territories as Russian.
“Therefore, these individuals are discussing matters beyond their mandate.”
Four Russian journalists accused of working with Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s fiercest opponent, have been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison each.
Antonina Favorskaya, Kostantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger were found guilty of involvement with a group that had been labelled as extremist.
All four, who worked with Mr Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, maintained their innocence and said they had been targeted for their work as journalists.
Mr Navalny was Russia’s most prominent opposition politician and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in the Kremlin. He died last year in an Arctic penal colony while serving a 19-year sentence, which he had rejected as politically driven.
Tuesday’s trial was part of the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent that hit an unprecedented scale following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russian citizens who are critical of the Kremlin.
Ukraine and the US held “positive” talks on a critical minerals deal, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“For now, both sides concluded the meeting on a positive note,” the Ukrainian president said.
Mr Zelensky had been due to sign a critical minerals agreement alongside Donald Trump during a visit to the Oval Office in February but it was suspended after their public shouting match.
Footage appears to show the aftermath of a Ukrainian strike on a Russian rocket base that was reportedly behind a deadly attack on Sumy on Palm Sunday.
Footage taken on the side of a road appears to show a huge fire roaring at the base, which is based in Kursk, late last night.
Nato’s secretary general has said that Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire in Ukraine was “not easy” and condemned Russia’s “terrible pattern” of attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
“These discussions are not easy, not least in the wake of this horrific violence. But we all support President Trump’s push for peace,” Mark Rutte said of US-led talks during a surprise visit to the port city of Odesa, where he met with Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr Rutte’s comments contrast with an assessment from Mr Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said he sees a peace deal “emerging” after talks with Vladimir Putin in Russia last week.
Serbia could be blocked from joining the European Union if its president travels to Russia next month for Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day parade.
Russian state media reported that Aleksandar Vucic would be one of the foreign dignitaries in attendance, as well as contributing military hardware to the spectacle on May 9.
In response, European officials warned Mr Vucic that his visit would be a breach of the bloc’s membership criteria and would derail his country’s EU ambitions.
“We need to ensure that they understand that certain decisions come at a cost,” said Jonatan Vseviov, the secretary-general of Estonia’s ministry of foreign affairs. “The consequence is them not joining the European Union.”
Ukrainian, British, French and Turkish representatives will hold a meeting on Black Sea security in Turkey later today, Volodymyr Zelensky has said
The Ukrainian president made the announcement alongside Mark Rutte, the secretary general of Nato, during a visit to the Black Sea port city of Odesa.
JD Vance has branded Volodymyr Zelensky “absurd” for suggesting that Washington was siding with Vladimir Putin.
“I think it’s sort of absurd for Zelensky to tell the [US] government, which is currently keeping his entire government and war effort together, that we are somehow on the side of the Russians,” Mr Vance said in a new interview.
“You have to try to understand where both the Russians and the Ukrainians see their strategic objectives. That doesn’t mean you morally support the Russian cause,” he told the UnHerd website.
Discussing his public row with Donald Trump and Mr Vance in February, Mr Zelensky earlier told CBS News, “It seems to me that the [US] vice-president is somehow justifying Putin’s actions.”
The Ukrainian president said he tried to explain to Mr Vance that “there is an aggressor and a victim. The Russians are the aggressor, and we are the victim”.
The Trump administration has told its G7 allies that it will not support a statement condemning Russia’s deadly strike on Sumy as it wants to keep peace negotiations with the Kremlin on track.
A source told Bloomberg that without US support, a statement could not be released.
It comes after Donald Trump said the attack was a “mistake” and blamed Volodymyr Zelensky for starting the war.
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Ukraine war latest: Kyiv ‘strikes Russian rocket brigade’s base’ – The Telegraph
