Key events
Moscow accuses Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships on Black Sea, ‘jeopardising grain deal’
Russia’s defence ministry on Monday accused Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships in the Black Sea, which it said was threatening prospects for a deal on grain exports.
“The terrorist actions of the Kyiv regime jeopardize the next extension of the grain deal beyond 18 May this year,” it said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
The defense ministry said an analysis of the route taken by Ukrainian naval drones launched 23 March and 24 April showed they originated in the water area of the Crimean port of Odesa that is designated for the implementation of the Black Sea initiative.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
More now from the UN meeting on Monday evening, where US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Russia a “hypocritical convener” of the meeting whose “illegal, unprovoked and unnecessary” war in Ukraine “struck at the heart of the UN Charter and all that we hold dear.”
Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward said the world has seen “what Russia’s idea of multilateralism means for the world” – the trampling of the UN Charter and a war that has brought unimaginable suffering to Ukraine and been “an unmitigated disaster for Russia, too.”
The 27-member European Union called Russia’s attempt to portray itself as a defender of the UN Charter and multilateralism “cynical,” saying it is “in contempt” not only of the UN Charter but UN general assembly resolutions demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces.
But Lavrov defended what Moscow calls its “special military operation,” reiterating accusations that Ukraine was promoting “Nazi practices” and banning the Russian language and culture, and Nato was planning to expand into Ukraine. He stressed, however, that “it’s not all about Ukraine” but what he called the West’s plans to leverage the Ukrainian government in the hope of weakening Russia.
“We cannot consider the Ukrainian issue separately from the geopolitical context,” Lavrov said. “It’s about how international relations will continue to be shaped through the establishment of a sound consensus on the basis of balance of interests, or through aggressive and volatile advancement of Washington’s hegemony.”
At the meeting, the UN secretary-general and the ambassadors of the US, Britain, France and their allies all pointed to the UN Charter’s underlying principle requiring all countries to support the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every nation – which Russia violated by invading Ukraine and illegally annexing several regions.
“The world is standing at a historic crossroads now,” China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun told the council.
“Humanity is facing unprecedented global challenges. Acts of hegemony and bullying are causing colossal harm to the world. Politics are creating huge divisions and confrontations. It has become all the more urgent and important to uphold the UN Charter.”
Risks of conflict between major powers at ‘historic high’ says UN chief
The UN chief and representatives from western nations berated Russia’s top diplomat as he chaired a UN meeting Monday, accusing Moscow of violating the UN Charter by attacking Ukraine and occupying part of its territory.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded by defending his country’s military action and accusing the US and its allies of undercutting global diplomacy, the foundation of the United Nations, which was created to prevent a third world war.
Secretary-General António Guterres called cooperation among the UN’s 193 member nations the organisation’s “beating heart” and “guiding vision,” and he warned the Security Council that global collaboration is under the greatest strain since the creation of the United Nations in 1945 on the ashes of the second world war.
Tensions between major powers are at a “historic high” and so are the risks of conflict “through misadventure or miscalculation,” he said, pointing first and foremost to the war in Ukraine.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.
Our top story this morning: The UN chief and representatives from western nations berated Russia’s top diplomat as he chaired a UN meeting Monday, accusing Moscow of violating the UN Charter by attacking Ukraine and occupying part of its territory.
Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council that global collaboration is under the greatest strain since the creation of the United Nations in 1945 on the ashes of the second world war.
We’ll have more on the tense meeting shortly. In the meantime here are the other key recent developments:
-
Russia has switched to defensive positions in all its areas of combat apart from Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov. In an interview with RBC Ukraine, he said: “The only places on the frontline where they are making attempts are in the city of Bakhmut, an attempt to cover the city of Avdiivka from the north, and localised fighting in the city of Marinka. Both in Avdiivka and Marinka the tactics are identical to those in Bakhmut – just an attempt to wipe the settlement off the face of the Earth.”
-
UN secretary-general António Guterres has proposed to Russian president Vladimir Putin a “way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion” of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, which Moscow has threatened to terminate from 18 May. Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile accused Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships in the Black Sea, which it said was threatening prospects of extending the deal.
-
A woman charged with killing a pro-war Russian military blogger using explosives has been denied bail by a Russian court. Darya Trepova, 26, is accused of killing Vladen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, on 2 April. He was presented with a statuette containing a bomb while giving a talk at a cafe in St Petersburg.
-
Ukrainian authorities say Russian forces are “forcibly evacuating” civilians in the parts of the Kherson region that they still occupy, a day after it was claimed Ukrainian forces had established a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnieper River. The claim cannot be verified, but it comes amid an apparent increase in Ukrainian military activity in the south of the country which some analysts have interpreted as a potential precursor to Kyiv’s long anticipated counter-offensive.
-
Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas voiced hope that EU membership talks with Kyiv could begin this year, during a visit to the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr. “It will be a hard process and the requirements need to be fulfilled 100%,” she said, speaking alongside Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Estonia has been one of Ukraine’s largest donors per capita and this was Kallas’s first visit after her party won a landslide victory for her pro-Ukraine platform last month.
-
Beijing has insisted it respects the status of the independent nations that emerged from the USSR after remarks by China’s ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet states sparked outrage in EU capitals. “The Chinese side respects the status of the member states as sovereign states after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” the foreign ministry’s spokesperson Mao Ning said, adding that on the issue of territorial sovereignty, Beijing’s position was consistent and clear.
-
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed confidence that the bloc would complete a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine after Kyiv expressed frustration at wrangling among EU member states. “Yes, still there is some disagreement. But I am sure everybody will understand that we are in a situation of extreme urgency,” Borrell said.
