Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s spokesman threatens ‘adequate response’ over UK missile pledge
Vladimir Putin accuses the West of ‘creating real cult of Nazism’
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The Kremlin has threatened an ‘adequate military response’ over the UK’s pledge to supply Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles.
Defence minister Ben Wallace confirmed in Parliament on Thursday that the UK would donate Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine to help the country’s forces to hit Russian troops and supply dumps deep behind the front lines.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hit back at the announcement, saying that if Britain provided these missiles the Kremlin would require “an adequate response from our military”.
Ukraine has been asking for months for long-range missiles, but support provided by Britain and other allies such as the United States has previously been limited to shorter-range weapons.
“We will simply not stand by as Russia kills civilians,” Ben Wallace told Parliament. “Russia must recognise that its actions alone have led to such systems being provided to Ukraine.”
Mr Wallace said Britain was supplying the weapons to Ukraine so they could be used within its sovereign territory, implying he has received assurances from Ukraine that they will not be used to target inside Russia.
Russian brigade abandons bridge near Bakhmut
A Russian brigade has abandoned its position on a bridge in Bakhmut, allowing Ukrainian forces to capture it, Ukraine said.
“It’s official. [Yevgeny] Prigozhin’s report about the flight of Russia’s 72nd Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from near Bakhmut and the ‘500 corpses’ of Russians left behind is true,” Ukraine’s Third Separate Assault Brigade said in a statement.
A Russian brigade is typically formed of several thousand troops.
This development was earlier referred to by the chief of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries.
“Our army is fleeing. The 72nd Brigade pissed away three square km this morning, where I had lost around 500 men,” Prigozhin said, complaining his troops were receiving only 10 per cent of the shells they needed.
Arpan Rai11 May 2023 03:54
Russia’s Wagner mercenaries to be labelled terror group like Islamic State
The UK is set to designate Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group as a proscribed terrorist organisation, it is understood.
The Times quoted a Government source as saying the move was “imminent” and likely to be enacted within weeks after two months spent building a legal case.
Proscription would make it a criminal offence to join Wagner, encourage support for it, display its logo in public or attend its meetings.
Among other organisation on the Government’s proscribed list are the Islamic State, al Qaida and neo-Nazi group National Action.
It comes as Labour demanded ministers formally label the Wagner Group a terror outfit after accusing it of committing “appalling atrocities”.
(Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Sam Rkaina11 May 2023 02:10
Russia’s military operation against Ukraine is “very difficult” Kremlin admits
Russia’s military operation against Ukraine is “very difficult” but will continue, Tass news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling a Bosnian television station on Wednesday.
Russia has succeeded in severely damaging the Ukrainian military machine and this work will continue, he added in a long interview during which he repeated many of Moscow’s talking points about the conflict.
Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what Moscow calls a special military operation and initially captured significant amounts of territory.
But Kyiv’s forces pushed back last year and are now planning another counteroffensive. Western officials estimate more than 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded.
“The special military operation continues. This is a very difficult operation, and, of course, certain goals have been achieved in a year,” Tass quoted Peskov as saying.
Ukraine continues to shell eastern parts of the country occupied by Russia and Peskov said this demonstrated the need to continue the conflict and push pro-Kyiv forces back.
“We managed to beat up the Ukrainian military machine quite a bit,” said Peskov, noting Russia had launched countless missile strikes against what he said were military targets across Ukraine.
“This work will continue,” he said. Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting mainly civilian targets, a charge Moscow denies.
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Main developments in Russia
- A filling point on the Druzhba pipeline in a Russian region bordering Ukraine has been attacked, the TASS news agency reported, citing Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft.
- Two drones tried to attack a military facility in Russia’s Voronezh region but failed, region’s governor said.
- Russia’s air defence forces shot down an “enemy” drone in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, its governor said, adding that falling debris damaged a gas pipeline and a house.
- Two Russian soldiers from Kamchatka in the far east have been sentenced to two-and-a-half years each in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, human rights group OVD-Info said.
Sam Rkaina10 May 2023 21:30
Key developments from Wednesday
- A Ukrainian military unit said it had routed a Russian infantry brigade from frontline territory near Bakhmut, claiming to confirm an account by the head of Russia’s Wagner private army that the Russian forces had fled.
- Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin complained that his Wagner fighters were still not getting enough shells from the defence ministry to underpin what he said was their advance in Bakhmut.
- The war in Ukraine will increasingly be a battle between large numbers of poorly trained Russian troops with outdated equipment and a smaller Ukrainian force with better Western weapons and training, NATO’s top military official said.
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