Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces launch 100 deadly glide bombs and dozens of drones across frontline
Warrants come as Russia has again stepped up its long-range assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Vladimir Putin’s troops have launched around 100 deadly glide bombs and dozens of drones across the border with Ukraine over the past day.
Russia had launched 96 glide bombs, two missile strikes, 4000 shells and 44 kamikaze drones over the last 24 hours, according to the Ukrainian army.
A glide bomb is a standard air-dropped bomb modified to be launched from a distance rather than directly over the target - with some weighing up to 1.5 tonnes.
It comes as Russia’s former defence minister and a leading general have been slapped with arrest warrants over attacks on civilian targets amounting to war crimes in Ukraine by a top international court.
Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defence minister, and General Valery Gerasimov are suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine, The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) said.
Judges had found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023”, the ICC said.
Top international court issues arrest warrants for senior Russian officials over alleged war crimes
Russia keeps up the front-line pressure before Ukraine receives a boost from Western military aid
Trump military aides say they’ve given him detailed plan to pressure Ukraine into peace talks with Putin
'No evidence' behind Gershkovich charges, US embassy says
The US embassy in Russia has said that Moscow has failed to provide any evidence to support espionage charges against Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
In a statement on the first day of Mr Gershkovich’s closed trial on spying charges, the embassy said the case was about the Kremlin using US citizens to achieve its political objectives.
“Russian authorities have failed to provide any evidence supporting the charges against him, failed to justify his continued detention, and failed to explain why Evan’s work as a journalist constitutes a crime,” the embassy said.
Russia 'working on a big treaty with Iran'
Moscow is working on a “big treaty” with Iran, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova has said.
Ms Zakharova’s comment appeared to be a reference to a comprehensive bilateral cooperation agreement that is being negotiated between Tehran and Moscow.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Iran had supplied Russia with ballistic missiles.
EU countries agree sanctions on Belarus to plug 'biggest loophole' in Russian measure
European Union countries agreed a sanctions package against Belarus on Wednesday, EU diplomats and Belgium said, to try to close off a route to avoiding restrictions on Russia.
The EU adopted this week its 14th package of sanctions to punish Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which included clauses that increased responsibility on EU companies exporting via non-EU countries.
“This package will strengthen our measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including combating circumvention of sanctions,” Belgium, which holds the EU presidency until the end of June, said on X.
China says it firmly opposes EU sanctions against its firms over Russian links
China firmly opposes the European Union’s inclusion of some Chinese firms in a 14th package of sanctions on Russia, its commerce ministry said on Wednesday.
The move has a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations, the ministry said, adding it urges the bloc to “unconditionally” stop sanctioning Chinese firms.
Closed-door trial of US journalist Evan Gershkovich begins in Russia as case denounced as sham
Closed-door trial of US journalist begins in Russia as case denounced as sham
Mr Gershkovich faces a 20 year sentence if convicted on charges decried as politically motivated
Russia accused of flashing violent Ukraine war images on children’s TV channels
Russia accused of flashing violent Ukraine war images on children’s TV channels
Russian cyberattacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure are being investigated as possible war crimes by ICC
A Ukrainian author turned soldier has a stark warning for the West: ‘Be prepared for war with Russia’
Ukrainian author and soldier warns the West: ‘War is coming to you’
Tom Watling speaks to Oleksandr Mykhed about his new book describing the reality of Russia’s invasion of his homeland
EU's Borrell condemns move by Russia to block European media
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU condemned Russia’s move to ban access inside Russia to 81 media outlets from the European Union.
“The EU condemns the totally unfounded decision by the Russian authorities to block access to over eighty European media in Russia,” said Borrell in a statement on Wednesday.
“This decision further restricts access to free and independent information and expands the already severe media censorship in Russia,” he added.
On Tuesday, Russia announced a ban on 81 different media outlets from the European Union including Agence France-Presse and Politico, in retaliation for a similar EU ban on several Russian media outlets.
Kremlin says ICC warrants for Russian military top brass are ‘absurd'
International Criminal Court arrest warrants for two Russian officials involved in the Ukraine war are “absurd”, the Kremlin said.
Moscow said it did not recognise the warrants for Russian former defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian general Valery Gerasimov as the ICC does not have jurisdiction in Russia.
“We do not recognise the jurisdiction of this court. We are not members of the relevant statutes. Accordingly, we do not recognise these orders. Moreover, we consider it quite absurd, like the last two warrants that concerned the head of state and our children’s ombudsman,” Dmitry Peskov said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments