Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy tells EU grain restrictions ‘completely unacceptable’; Putin defends invasion on Victory Day

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Some more on the comments by James Cleverly in the US.

The UK foreign secretary said that Ukraine’s offensive may not be “decisive” in an attempt to play down expectations of a “Hollywood” style sweep to retake occupied areas of the country.

On a visit to Washington he said that more aid must be delivered, but added: “They have demonstrated themselves to be very, very effective defenders of their country, but we need to recognise that there might not be a simple, quick, decisive breakthrough,” Cleverly said at the Atlantic Council, Agence France-Presse reports.

“I hope and expect they will do very, very well, because whenever I’ve seen the Ukrainians they have outperformed expectations.

“But we have to be realistic. This is the real world; this is not a Hollywood movie,” he said.

Cleverly called for western powers “to have the resolve to continue to do the right thing” no matter how the offensive progresses, including the prospect of “escalatory words” from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

“If we don’t, what’s at stake is of immeasurable importance,” he said.

UK foreign secretary James Cleverly has told a US audience at the Atlantic Council that he would welcome China’s involvement in helping bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

He said: “I don’t think we should be ‘dog in the manger’ about this. We know that Xi enjoys a significant degree of influence with Vladimir Putin. If he can use that influence to deliver on what he has publicly stated he feels strongly about, sovereignty, territorial integrity, the non-use of nuclear weapons, the non-threat of nuclear weapons, then why would we be critical of that intervention, if it is meaningful and if he actually delivers upon it. Two big ifs.

“If through his intervention he can help restore the sovereignty of Ukraine, and get Russian troops out of that country, I’m not going to be critical of that.”

A UK-led group of European countries has asked for expressions of interest to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles in what would be another step-up in military support for Kyiv against Russia’s invasion.

The call for responses from companies who could provide the munitions with range of up to 300km (190 miles) was included in a notice posted last week by the International Fund for Ukraine – a group of countries including Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden – set up to send weapons to Kyiv, Reuters reports.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence, which runs the fund, asked companies to get in touch if they could provide missiles that can be launched from land, sea or air with a payload of between 20 and 490kg (44 and 1,078lbs).

The notice asked for other desirable requirements including a “low probability of intercept”, “mission planning capability”, and “air defence penetration methods to increase probability of successful strike”. The notice said companies that responded would be contacted from 5 June.

A British official said no final decision had been made to send missiles with these capabilities to Ukraine.

The US has announced a “new security assistance package” to help bolster Ukraine’s air defences and artillery ammunition needs.

This package, confirmed by the Department of Defense on Tuesday, totals up to $1.2bn and is being provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).

In a statement this afternoon, the DoD said:

This USAI package underscores the continued US commitment to meeting Ukraine’s most urgent requirements by committing critical near-term capabilities, such as air defence systems and munitions, while also building the capacity of Ukraine’s armed forces to defend its territory and deter Russian aggression over the long term.

This includes committing additional 155mm artillery rounds and sustainment support to enable Ukraine to better maintain its on-hand systems and equipment.

The package includes funding for additional air defence systems and munitions; equipment to integrate western air defence launchers, missiles and radars with Ukraine’s air defence systems; ammunition for counter-unmanned aerial systems; 155mm artillery rounds; commercial satellite imagery services; and support for training, maintenance and sustainment activities.

A large installation representing Russian atrocities in Ukraine blocked the path of Russia’s ambassador to Poland as he sought to place a wreath at a Warsaw memorial to Soviet soldiers on Russia’s Victory Day holiday.

The installation included hundreds of fluttering blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and crosses serving as symbolic grave markers for Ukrainians killed by Russians during the full-scale war launched by Moscow last year.

A pool of fake blood below the crosses underlined the stark message of the protest, which was created by Euromaidan-Warszawa, a citizens’ initiative that supports Ukraine.

One organiser, Viktoria Pogrebniak, said the installation, set up for the day at the entrance to the Red Army memorial site, was meant to fight back against Russian propaganda and “show the real picture to the world”.

“We are bombed, we are killed, we are raped,” she said. “We are killed just because we are Ukrainians.”

A tumultuous year of fighting has passed since Vladimir Putin last addressed Russian soldiers on Red Square in Moscow to mark the country’s victory over the Nazis.

But the Russian leader’s Victory Day message to the nation on Tuesday was nearly identical to that of last year, as he cast the war in Ukraine as an existential battle against an aggressive, Russophobic and woke west.

“Today, civilisation is again at a decisive turning point. A real war has been unleashed against us again,” Putin said as he delivered an angry yet somewhat routine speech in which he drew false parallels between today’s fight with Ukraine’s “criminal regime” and the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

Putin also recycled some of his other go-to grievances, blaming “western globalist elites” for “destroying the family” and “traditional values”.

What was left unspoken by the Russian president was the battering his army had received over the last 12 months in Ukraine, the impact of which was revealed by the scaled-down military parade that followed his speech.

It’s 4.20pm in Kyiv. Here’s a summary of the day’s news so far:

Vladimir Putin has told Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine that the “whole country is praying for them”, as he used his Victory Day speech to defend his invasion of Ukraine. Speaking at the 78th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Russian president drew historical parallels between the second world war and fighting in Ukraine “Today, civilisation is again at a decisive, turning point, a real war has been unleashed against us again,” Putin said in a speech that was laced with anger.

“We are proud of the participants of the special military operation. The future of our people depends on you,” Putin said. He accused the west of “destroying traditional values” and propagandising a “system of robbery and violence.”

Russia launched about 15 cruise missiles at Ukraine’s capital on Tuesday, the second attack in as many days, with air defence systems shooting all of them down, officials said, after air raid alerts blared over most of the country. “As at the front, the plans of the aggressor failed,” Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv’s city military administration, said in comments posted on the Telegram messaging app.

Popko said that according to preliminary information there were no casualties in the attack, which was carried out with cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea region. The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said debris fell on a house in the Holosiivskyi district in the south-west of Kyiv, but there were no casualties and not much damage.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary force which is fighting Russia’s battle in Bakhmut, has said he was told that he and his mercenaries would be regarded as “traitors” if they abandoned their positions. Prigozhin threatened to withdraw his troops from the city in east Ukraine, which has been the site of a long-running battle since 2022 to try to capture it, because of a lack of ammunition. He then rowed back on it, but has again threatened to do so.

Ukraine is planning a “very important” counteroffensive against Russian forces that must “demonstrate success”, the country’s prime minister has said. Denys Shmyhal told Sky News that the operation would be launched when the time was right.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he discussed European integration, defence matters and sanctions against Russia at a meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv. He said he expected the EU to soon approve more sanctions on Russia.

The UN secretary general, Ant?nio Guterres, has said there is currently no prospect of peace between Russia and Ukraine because “both sides are convinced that they can win”. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pa?s on Tuesday, Guterres was pessimistic about the EU and the UN’s ability to broker an end to the conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion last year. “Unfortunately, I don’t think peace negotiations are possible at the moment,” he said.

Russia may be building a water pipeline in an attempt to address a water shortage affecting the occupied city of Donetsk. The UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its daily update that water had been a growing issue for Donetsk since the invasion in February 2022. On 28 April, the Russian-installed head of Donetsk said regional supplies were running “dangerously low”. The Siversky-Donets canal that supplies the area is mainly under Ukrainian control, despite Russian attempts to take command of it.

MEPs voted to speed up consideration of a law to boost ammunition production in Europe to the tune of EUR500m ($550m), due to efforts to supply Ukraine. The decision should see the new legislation – snappily termed the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (Asap) – in place by the end of the year, MEPs and European Commission officials said, Agence France-Presse reports.

Ukraine has received Israeli-made radar defence systems, which have already been deployed in Kyiv as of Monday, according to Israeli media reports. A Lithuanian volunteer organisation known as Blue/Yellow delivered 16 ieMHR models made by Israel’s RADA Electronic Industries last week and three are already in use in the Ukrainian capital, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz said. The systems are designed to detect aerial threats including missiles, rockets, mortar shells, helicopters and drones within up to a 10km (6.2-mile) radius.

The EU must not be intimidated by Moscow’s showcasing of military power but continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Tuesday as Russia marked Victory Day with a parade. “Two thousand two hundred kilometres north-east from here, Putin is parading his soldiers, tanks and missiles today,” Scholz told lawmakers in a speech at the European parliament in Strasbourg.

Germany’s foreign minister has said China could play a decisive role in ending the war in Ukraine. Speaking alongside her Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, at a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, Annalena Baerbock said that as a permanent member of the UN security council, China had the power to be influential in the conflict and bring it to an end.

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, said Russia “will prevail” in its fight against what he described as “imperialists”, the state news agency KCNA said on Tuesday, in remarks seen to be aimed at Ukraine and its western supporters such as the US. North Korea has forged closer ties with the Kremlin and backed Moscow after it invaded Ukraine last year, including its proclamation later of having annexed parts of Ukraine, which most UN members condemned as illegal.

The leaders of the G7 nations must condemn any threat to use nuclear weapons and vow “decisive action” against such a move when they hold a summit next week in the city of Hiroshima, Ukraine’s envoy to Japan said. Nuclear tension has surged since the start of the conflict with Ukraine as Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that Russia is ready to use its nuclear arsenal if necessary to defend its “territorial integrity”.

Russia may be building a water pipeline in an attempt to address a water shortage affecting the occupied city of Donetsk.

The UK‘s Ministry of Defence said in its daily update that water had been a growing issue for Donetsk since the invasion in February 2022.

On 28 April, the Russian-installed head of Donetsk said regional supplies were running “dangerously low”. The Siversky-Donets canal that supplies the area is mainly under Ukrainian control, despite Russian attempts to take command of it. It runs near the city of Bakhmut, which has seen heavy fighting from both sides as Russia tries to take it.

The MoD said: “Russia’s heavy use of indirect artillery to support the capture of Bakhmut … has likely inflicted collateral damage to the canal and other regional water infrastructure, undermining Russia’s efforts to remedy the lack of water that its invasion originally created.

“To compensate for its lack of success in capture and retaining the canal, Russia is likely constructing a water pipeline to mitigate the water shortage within Donetsk city. However, this is unlikely to fully compensate for the occupied region’s reduced access to water.”

Germany’s foreign minister has said China could play a decisive role in ending the war in Ukraine.

Speaking alongside her Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, at a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday, Annalena Baerbock said that as a permanent member of the UN security council, China had the power to be influential in the conflict and bring it to an end.

Her comments were rebuffed by Qin, who said China would neither “watch the fire from the other bank” nor “add fuel to the fire”.

Baerbock said the EU was still working on ways to stop sanctions on Russian businesses and individuals being circumvented, including by using indirect companies in other countries.

She was asked whether the measures would include a proposed blacklisting of several Chinese companies. In response she said negotiations were ongoing but that generally it was important to stop restrictions from being bypassed.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary force which is fighting Russia’s battle in Bakhmut, has said he was told that he and his mercenaries would be regarded as “traitors” if they abandoned their positions.

Prigozhin threatened to withdraw his troops from the city in east Ukraine, which has been the site of a long-running battle since 2022 to try to capture it, because of a lack of ammunition. He since rowed back on it, but again threatened to do so unless he got it.

His latest comments were released on Russia’s Victory Day, as a military parade took place in the capital, Moscow.

He said: “A combat order came yesterday which clearly stated that if we leave our positions it will be regarded as treason against the motherland. That was the message to us.

“[But] if there is no ammunition, then we will leave our positions and be the ones asking who is really betraying the motherland. Apparently, the one [betraying Russia] is the person who signed it [the order to supply too little ammunition].”

He said his forces would stay in Bakhmut and keep insisting they get their ammo “for a few more days”.

Prigozhin has previously accused the defence ministry of deliberately starving his forces of ammunition. The ministry has said it is working to ensure all battlefield units have what they need.

Late on Monday, Prigozhin said there were signs the ammunition problem was being solved, but on Tuesday he said the size of the shipment had been slashed. “They’ve given us only 10% of what we asked for. We’ve been deceived,” he said.

More details from Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s press conference alongside the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv on Tuesday.

He was heavily critical of restrictions on the import of grain into the EU imposed after complaints by a group of five central and eastern European countries. He said the ban was helping Russia.

He said: “All restrictions on our exports are completely unacceptable right now. They only reinforce the abilities of the aggressor. We are waiting for the EU to stop all restrictions as fast as possible.”

Agence France-Presse said he called the measures “severe, even cruel” and “disappointing” in a time of war.

The EU members involved – Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia – have sparred with Ukraine in recent weeks over the issue of grain.

Russia’s invasion last year severely limited the traditional export channel of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, necessitating export overland via Ukraine’s neighbours.

Member states agreed to allow the import of certain products from Ukraine without quantitative restrictions, and without customs and official inspections.

But farmers in some of the EU countries protested after a slump in prices, prompting a raft of restrictions and bans on Ukraine’s food exports in response.

Brussels called the bans on imports of grain and other food from Ukraine “unacceptable” while Kyiv is at war with Russia.

Last month, the European Commission reached an agreement with all the parties concerned to ensure the transit of Ukrainian grain exports through EU countries, but with restrictions.

Speaking alongside Zelenskiy, Von der Leyen on Tuesday described the grain situation as “difficult”.

“The immediate priority now is that the grain transit goes seamlessly and at the lowest possible cost outside from Ukraine towards the European Union,” she said.

“This requires a very close cooperation of the different stakeholders. Therefore, we will jointly set up a coordination platform.”

MEPs voted to speed up consideration of a law to boost ammunition production in Europe to the tune of EUR500m ($550m), due to efforts to supply Ukraine.

The decision should see the new legislation – snappily termed the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (Asap) – in place by the end of the year, MEPs and European Commission officials said, Agence France-Presse reports.

The spending proposal, initiated by the commission, comes as the bloc seeks to supply 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next 12 months, adding to a stream of military deliveries.

But shifting such quantities of munitions to Ukraine has severely depleted stocks in EU member countries’ arsenals, creating the need for the new ammunition-production act.

The Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, in a joint news conference in Kyiv with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the Asap law would “help member states to ramp up the production … and speed up the delivery of ammunition to meet Ukraine’s and member states’ needs”.

The draft legislation calls for tapping the EU’s European defence fund and another mechanism the commission has suggested creating under a July 2022 proposal, called the European Defence Industrial Reinforcement Through Common Procurement Act.