Russia-Ukraine live news: Russia warns US over Ukraine weapons | Russia-Ukraine war News
Moscow tells Washington in diplomatic note that sending weapons to Kyiv could lead to ‘unpredictable consequences’.
- Russian shelling has killed seven people in eastern city of Kharkiv, the regional governor says.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to US President Joe Biden to designate Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism”, the Washington Post reports.
- Ukraine’s defence ministry accuses Russia of using long-range bombers in Mariupol, where fighting is raging around a steel plant and the port.
- The bodies of more than 900 civilians has been discovered in the Kyiv region, a police official says.
Here are all the latest updates:
Wife of Putin ally held in Ukraine accuses authorities of abuse
The wife of one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top allies in Ukraine has said he was beaten by the Ukrainian security service while being interrogated in detention.
At a news conference in Moscow, Viktor Medvedchuk’s wife Oksana Marchenko said that one of two photos released by Ukraine this week showed he had been beaten.
Ukraine said this week that it had captured Medvedchuk, posting a photo of him in handcuffs, wearing a Ukrainian army uniform.
Russian crowd mourns Black Sea flagship after sinking
Dozens of people have gathered in the Crimean city of Sevastopol to mourn the sinking of the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva.
Some embraced and others laid flowers in memory of the missile cruiser at a monument to the 1696 foundation of the Russian navy in the centre of Sevastopol.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Thursday that the Moskva was badly damaged by a fire and sank in a storm as it was being towed to port.
Russia warns US to stop arming Ukraine: Washington Post
Russia has warned the Biden administration of “unpredictable consequences” if the US keeps arming Ukraine, The Washington Post has reported.
In Moscow, a foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed Russia had sent diplomatic notes to the US and other nations about supplying weapons to Ukraine but did not say what the messages contained, the Interfax news agency reported.
“We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security,” the Post quoted Russia as saying in the diplomatic a note to the US.
More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region: Police
The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said.
Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv’s regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95 percent of the casualties had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds.
“Consequently, we understand that under the [Russian] occupation, people were simply executed in the streets,” Nebytov said. “The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900 — and I emphasise, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.”
US believes Russian cruiser hit by Ukrainian missiles before sinking
The US believes the sunken Russian missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, was hit by two Ukrainian missiles, a senior US official has said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said these were Neptune anti-ship missiles.
Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim that it hit the ship, but they also did not refute it.
Zelenskyy asked US to designate Russia a ‘state sponsor of terrorism’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently appealed to US President Joe Biden to designate Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism”, the Washington Post has reported, citing people familiar with their conversation.
Biden did not commit to specific actions during that call, according to the newspaper.
The US list currently includes four countries: North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Syria.
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