Ukraine conflict – newest information: Putin makes shock final minute journey to Crimea as arrest warrant issued

Russian President Vladimir Putin has travelled to Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of the Black Sea peninsula’s annexation from Ukraine.

Mr Putin visited an artwork faculty and a kids’s centre on Saturday, the day after the Worldwide Felony Courtroom issued an arrest warrant for the Russian chief, accusing him of conflict crimes.

The courtroom particularly accused him on Friday of bearing private accountability for the kidnapping of youngsters from Ukraine throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion of the nation, which began nearly 13 months in the past.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a transfer that many of the world thought of unlawful.

Widespread Russian assaults continued in Ukraine, following the Worldwide Felony Courtroom’s resolution to difficulty an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for youngsters’s rights.

Ukraine was attacked by 16 Russian drones on Friday evening, the Ukrainian Air Power stated within the early hours of Saturday.

Writing on Telegram, the air pressure command stated that 11 out of 16 drones had been shot down “within the central, western and japanese areas”.

Amongst areas focused had been the capital, Kyiv, and western Lviv province.

The pinnacle of the Kyiv metropolis administration, Serhii Popko, stated Ukrainian air defences shot down all drones heading for the Ukrainian capital, whereas Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi stated on Saturday that three of six drones had been shot down, with the opposite three hitting a district bordering Poland.

A deal permitting the export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports that was attributable to expire on Saturday has been renewed, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan stated, whereas a Ukrainian authorities minister stated the extension had been agreed for 120 days.

“The deal for the grain hall was attributable to expire in the present day. Because of our talks with the 2 sides, we’ve got secured an extension to this deal,”  Mr Erdogan stated in a speech within the western metropolis of Canakkale, with out specifying the size of the agreed extension.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov stated the deal had been prolonged for 120 days.

The pact was brokered with Russia and Ukraine by the United Nations and Turkey in July – and renewed for an additional 120 days in November – to fight a worldwide meals disaster that was fueled partly by Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine and Black Sea blockade.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea on Saturday on a go to to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine, Russian state media reported.

We’ll have extra on this story because it is available in.

Quickly after a prepare derailed and spilled poisonous chemical compounds in Ohio final month, nameless pro-Russian accounts began spreading deceptive claims and anti-American propaganda about it on Twitter, utilizing Elon Musk‘s new verification system to develop their attain whereas creating the phantasm of credibility.

The accounts, which parroted Kremlin speaking factors on myriad subjects, claimed with out proof that authorities in Ohio had been mendacity concerning the true affect of the chemical spill. The accounts unfold fearmongering posts that preyed on professional considerations about air pollution and well being results and in contrast the response to the derailment with America’s assist for Ukraine following its invasion by Russia.

Russia, China and Iran have accomplished three-way naval workouts within the Arabian Sea that included artillery hearth at targets on the ocean and within the air, the Russian defence ministry stated on Saturday.

The workouts, off the Iranian port of Chabahar, befell as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to host his Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping in Moscow for a three-day state go to beginning on Monday.

Russia has continued to stage navy workouts with companions, particularly China, regardless of the pressure on its armed forces from the year-long conflict in Ukraine, the place it has failed to realize any main advance since final summer time.

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group plans to recruit roughly 30,000 new fighters by the center of Could, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin stated on Saturday.

He stated in an audio message on Telegram that Wagner recruitment centres, which he stated final week had opened in 42 Russian cities, had been hiring on common 500-800 folks a day.

Prigozhin has been directing Russia’s operations in the important thing city of Bakhmut in one of many conflict’s longest and fiercest battles.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has welcomed the Worldwide Felony Courtroom’s resolution to difficulty an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it confirmed that “no one is above the legislation”.

The ICC on Friday known as for Mr Putin’s arrest on suspicion of illegal deportation of youngsters and illegal switch of individuals from Ukraine to Russia since Moscow launched its invasion of its neighbour final yr.

“The Worldwide Felony Courtroom is the appropriate establishment to research conflict crimes … The very fact is that no one is above the legislation and that’s what’s turning into clear proper now,” Mr Scholz stated at a joint information convention in Tokyo with Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday.