'Stop looking for a way out for Russia', Zelensky tells Macron

Thank you for following, here are five key updates from today:

• The UK has imposed sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s alleged girlfriend, as well as his ex-wife and several close friends who are believed to be holding lucrative assets on his behalf.
• Lloyd Austin, the US Defence Secretary, held a call with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu today in which he called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.
• Brussels could shelve its plans for an embargo on Russia oil imports amid mounting tensions over the bloc’s attempts to roll out a sixth package of economic sanctions against Moscow.
• Volodymyr Zelensky hit out at Emmanuel Macron and accused him of trying "in vain" to have a constructive dialogue with the Russian President.
• Natural gas prices eased back today as major European buyers said they could ride out the latest threat to Russian supply.

Russia said it was recommending that its citizens do not travel to Britain, complaining that authorities there were making it "virtually impossible" for Russians to obtain visas.

The Russian Foreign Ministry alleged Russian applications were being delayed because Britain was giving higher priority to Ukrainian refugees.

It said Russians were also unable to pay on the British website via Mastercard and Visa, which have both suspended their operations in Russia.

A spokesperson for the Home Office, said: "There are currently no restrictions or limitations for Russian nationals to work in the UK on long-term work visas."

"We are prioritising Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, so applications for study, work and family visas have taken longer to process."

Joe Biden, the US President, has said he supported Nato's open door policy and Sweden and Finland's right to determine their "own future, foreign policy, and security arrangements".

Biden spoke with the leaders of the two Nordic countries in a phone call today, with all three reiterating their support of Ukraine, the White House said in a statement.

The first talks held between the US Defence Secretary and the Russian Defence Minister since the Ukraine war began have made no progress on key issues despite the US side's call for a ceasefire, a senior Pentagon official said Friday.

"The call itself didn't specifically solve any acute issues or lead to a direct change in what the Russians are doing or what they are saying," the official told reporters.

Natural gas prices eased back today as major European buyers said they could ride out the latest threat to Russian supply.

Benchmark European prices fell as much as 8.7pc and are heading for a weekly loss.

Russian flows through Ukraine have dropped this week but remained steady today, close to their lowest level since late April.

The market was plunged into more turmoil this week as Ukraine was forced to close a key transit point and Moscow issued counter sanctions curbing supplies to Germany.

It comes amid a looming deadline for key European buyers to make payments under Putin's new rouble regime.

Russia is struggling to make progress in the Donbas and is likely to come across more heavily fortified Ukrainian positions as its armed forces look to advance, Western officials have said.

Moscow's invading troops are using "reckless" manoeuvres - as seen during a failed river crossing which is said to have resulted in heavy losses - in a bid to "take the fight to the Ukrainians" in the east of the country, they said.

But even small gains are being quickly taken back by Kyiv counter attacks amid fears in the West that the battle for the region will settle into a long and attritional conflict.

One official said: "Those gains that are being made are one or two kilometres at a time".

Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland this weekend, a supplier said on Friday as tensions rise over Helsinki's NATO bid amid Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.

"We are forced to suspend the electricity import starting from May 14," said RAO Nordic, a subsidiary of Russian state energy holding Inter RAO.

"RAO Nordic is not able to make payments for the imported electricity from Russia."

Europe pledged another half billion dollars in military support for Kyiv on Friday and Sweden edged closer to joining Nato as the war in Ukraine entered its 12th week.

 Josep Borrell, the European Union foreign policy chief, promised Ukraine an extra 500 million euros ($520 million), bringing the bloc's total military aid to two billion euros.

"The recipe is clear - more of the same," Mr Borrell said.

"More pressure on Russia, with economic sanctions. Continue working on international isolation of Russia. Countering the disinformation about the consequences of the war... And presenting a united front to continue supporting Ukraine."

Mr Borrell joined Group of Seven foreign ministers in the German sea resort of Wangels, where they conferred with counterparts from Ukraine and Moldova.

Lloyd Austin, the US Defence Secretary, held a call with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu today in which he called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and stressed the importance of maintaining lines of communication, the Pentagon said.

It was the first time Austin had spoken with Shoigu since Feb. 18, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

Women who have fled to Poland to escape war must have access to reproductive rights that meet international standards, including abortions, a top UNHCR official said on Friday, amid reports of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine.

Poland has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, and human rights activists have raised concerns about the difficulties victims of rape from Ukraine fleeing to the country may face if they need to terminate a pregnancy.

"There are particular policies (regarding reproductive services in Poland) that we believe do not meet international standards," assistant high commissioner for protection Gillian Triggs told a news briefing.

"(Victims of sexual violence) need counselling and they need assistance. In some cases they will need abortions. We will raise this ... with the government," she said.

The UK has imposed sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s alleged girlfriend, as well as his ex-wife and several close friends who are believed to be holding lucrative assets on his behalf.

Alina Kabaeva, a 38-year Olympic medallist long rumoured to be the Russian president’s mistress, will face a visa ban and an asset freeze, the British Government said on Friday - along with a dozen friends and relatives of Putin.

“We are exposing and targeting the shady network propping up Putin’s luxury lifestyle and tightening the vice on his inner circle,” said Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary.

Read the full story from Nataliya Vasilyeva here

Ben Wallace has met with his US counterparts to discuss the next steps to help Ukraine, including military aid, in talks held in the United States this week, a statement published by the Ministry of Defence said on Friday.

"We will continue to work with unity and resolve to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked invasion," Wallace said in the statement, issued on Friday after a meeting with Lloyd Austin on Wednesday.

"We discussed the next steps to provide defensive support for Ukraine, as well as AUKUS (a defence pact between Australia, the United States and Britain), the future of NATO, and other aspects of our shared security."

Brussels could shelve its plans for an embargo on Russia oil imports amid mounting tensions over the bloc’s attempts to roll out a sixth package of economic sanctions against Moscow.

Hungary has refused to back further measures against Russia’s energy sector, which has prevented the bloc from targeting more oligarchs and banks to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine.

Diplomatic sources told the Telegraph that the European Commission is considering carving out the proposed ban on Russian oil in order to overcome the opposition from Budapest for the wider package of sanctions.

But hawkish member states have now warned they will veto the package if eurocrats offer to water down the sanctions further.

Read the full story from Joe Barnes here

 Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, believes that French leader Emmanuel Macron is trying "in vain" to have a constructive dialogue with Russian President Putin, according to an interview transcript released by Kyiv Friday.

"We must not look for a way out for Russia, and Macron is doing it in vain," Zelensky told Italian television Rai 1, according the Ukrainian president's Telegram channel.

"I know he wanted to get results from mediation between Russia and Ukraine, but he didn't get any," Zelensky said.

Moscow, he said, would not seek any end to the fighting "until Russia itself wants and understands that it needs" this.

The Elysee told AFP on Friday that Marcon had "never discussed anything with Vladimir Putin without the agreement of President Zelensky".

"He has always said that it is up to the Ukrainians to decide the terms of their negotiation with the Russians."

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, has reiterated an offer to hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and said Russia's withdrawal from Ukraine should be the starting point for any discussions.

"As president, I am ready to talk to Putin, but only to him. Without any of his intermediaries. And in the framework of dialogue, not ultimatums," he told Italy's RAI 1 television in an interview shown in Ukraine on Friday.

Ukraine and Russia have not held face-to-face peace talks since March 29. Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky was quoted by Interfax news agency on Monday as saying peace talks were being held remotely.

Putin told Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor, by telephone on Friday that progress in negotiations over an end to the conflict had been "essentially blocked by Kyiv," the Kremlin said. Kyiv blames Moscow for the lack of progress.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey did not have a "positive opinion" on Finland and Sweden joining Nato and accused Scandinavian countries of harbouring outlawed Kurdish militants.

"We do not have a positive opinion. Scandinavian countries are like a guesthouse for terror organisations," Erdogan told journalists after Friday prayers in Istanbul.

Erdogan said Turkey's former rulers "made a mistake" by giving a greenlight for Greece's NATO membership in 1952.

Finland and Sweden have long cooperated with NATO, and are expected to be able to join the alliance quickly.

Ukraine has accused Russia of forcibly deporting more than 210,000 children and wanting to make them Russian citizens.

Lyudmyla Denisova, human rights ombudswoman, said the children were among 1.2 million Ukrainians who Kyiv says have been deported against their will.

Reuters could not independently verify the figure given by Denisova or her allegations, for which she did not provide supporting evidence.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Denisova's allegations concerning the deportation of large numbers of children and other Ukrainian nationals.

Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians since launching what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine and says it is offering humanitarian aid to those who want to leave Russia.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday that it is recommending its citizens refrain from travelling to the United Kingdom, citing difficulties Russians face when trying to obtain a visa there.

"Taking into account the extremely unfriendly course of the UK towards our country, in order to avoid financial losses and other possible problems, we recommend that Russian citizens refrain, if possible, from travelling to the UK and trying to obtain British visas", it said. 

Ukraine has warned that any omission of an embargo on Russian oil in the EU's next sanctions package would spell the end of the bloc's unity, calling it a "critical moment".

"If this package is adopted without [an] oil embargo, I believe [Russia's] President Putin can celebrate because it will be the first case when the unity of the European Union will be broken because of the position of one country - Hungary," Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, warned.

Ukraine will hold its first war crimes trial of the war on Friday, with a Russian soldier in the dock for allegedly shooting an unarmed 62-year-old civilian in the head as he rode his bicycle home.

The case is hugely significant and will be closely watched. Kyiv has accused Russia of numerous atrocities since it invaded on Feb. 24 and said it has identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes.

Russia has denied targeting civilians or involvement in war crimes and accused Kyiv of staging them to smear its forces.

Read the full story from Verity Bowman here

Swedish membership in Nato would have a stabilising effect and would benefit countries around the Baltic sea, Foreign Minister Ann Linde has said, the day after neighbour Finland committed to applying to join the alliance.

"Swedish Nato membership would raise the threshold for military conflicts and thus have a conflict-preventing effect in northern Europe," Ms Linde told reporters when presenting a parliament report on security.

Finland's president and prime minister said on Thursday the country - which shares a 810 mile-long border and a difficult past with Russia - must apply to join the Nato military alliance "without delay".

Stockholm is widely expected to follow Helsinki's lead and could apply for Nato membership as early as Monday.

Sweden will be more vulnerable to attack if it is the only Nordic or Baltic country to remain outside Nato, the all-party review said, though it added that Russia could retaliate if the country applied.

"If Sweden chooses to seek Nato membership, there is a risk of a reaction from Russia," Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist said.

"Let me state that, in such a case, we are prepared to deal with any counter-response."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he doubted the motives of Ukraine's intention of joining the European Union, while accusing Brussels of ambitions beyond the European continent.

Ukraine, where Russia launched a military campaign on February 24, "is ready to declare a neutral, non-aligned status," Mr Lavrov told reporters following a meeting of CIS foreign ministers in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe.

"At the same time, they are trying in every possible way to emphasise their desire to become an EU member," Mr Lavrov added.

"There are serious doubts about how harmless such a desire is from Kyiv," he said.

Germany's agriculture minister has said grain theft by Russia in eastern Ukraine was "repugnant", as G7 countries met to discuss the impact of the war on global food supply.

"This is an especially repugnant form of war that Russia is leading, in that it is stealing, robbing, taking for itself grain from eastern Ukraine," Cem Oezdemir said at the start of a meeting with colleagues from G7 countries and Ukraine.

Ukraine will fight for the remote Snake Island in the Black Sea "for as long as is needed", the head of Ukrainian military intelligence has said.

"Whoever controls the island can at any time block the movement of civilian ships in all directions to the south of Ukraine," Kyrylo Budanov said in televised comments.

Renewed fighting around Snake Island in recent days may become a battle for control of the western Black Sea coast, according to some defence officials, as Russian forces struggle to make headway in Ukraine's north and east.

A Ukrainian court is expected on Friday to begin hearing the first war crimes case arising from Russia's Feb. 24 invasion after charging a captured Russian soldier with the murder of a 62-year-old civilian.

The case is of huge symbolic importance for Ukraine. The Kyiv government has accused Russia of atrocities and brutality against civilians during the invasion and said it has identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes. The Kremlin denies targeting civilians.

The Kyiv district court's website identified the soldier on trial as Vadim Shishimarin and said he was accused of "violations of the laws and norms of war".

The Ukrainian prosecutor general's office said the defendant was a 21-year-old soldier in the Kantemirovskaya tank division from the Moscow region.

He faces up to life imprisonment over the killing in the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka, east of the capital Kyiv, on Feb. 28.

In a statement, the prosecutor general's office said the soldier stole a privately-owned car to escape with four other Russian servicemen after their column was targeted by Ukrainian forces.

The statement said the Russian soldiers drove into the village of Chupakhivka where they saw an unarmed resident riding a bicycle and talking on his phone.

It said the suspect was ordered to kill the civilian to prevent him reporting on the Russians' presence and fired several shots through the open window of the car with an assault rifle at the civilian's head, and he died on the spot. It did not say how the soldier was captured or elaborate on evidence that led to the war crimes charges.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said that the bloc would provide another €500m worth of military support to Ukraine and that he was confident a deal could be reached in the coming days to agree an embargo on Russian oil. 

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in northern Germany, Mr Borrell said the military support would be for heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery and take the bloc's aid to about €2bn euros.

"A new impetus for military support. (It will be) more pressure on Russia with economic sanctions and continuing the international isolation of Russia and countering misinformation," he said

Mr Borrell said he was also optimistic an EU embargo on Russian oil could also be agreed in the coming days.

"I am sure we will have an agreement. We need it and we will have it. We have to get rid of the oil dependency from Russia," he said.

"If there is no agreement at the level of ambassadors, then on Monday the ministers when they gather they have to provide the political impetus."

The Kremlin warned it may take retaliatory "military-technical" steps after Finland's leaders said they favour joining Nato, and Sweden could do the same within days.

Two and a half months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent a shiver of fear through Moscow's neighbors, Finland's president and prime minister announced Thursday that the Nordic country should apply right away for membership in Nato, the military defense pact founded in part to counter the Soviet Union.

"You (Russia) caused this. Look in the mirror," said Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

France has said the G7 was committed to helping Ukraine win its war against Russia as the group's top diplomats held talks in northern Germany.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the G7 countries were "very strongly united" in their will to "continue in the long term to support Ukraine's fight for its sovereignty until Ukraine's victory".

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the G7 will defy Russian attempts to split the world over Ukraine.

"Never since the end of the Cold War have we G7 partners been more profoundly challenged. Never before have we stood more united," she said in a tweet.

At least two civilians died Thursday as a result of a shelling attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, local authorities said that same day.

"As a result of the shelling, two people were killed, four more were injured, two of whom are doctors. All these people are civilians," Vyacheslav Zadorenko, the mayor of the suburban town of Derhachi, wrote in a Telegram post.

He added that the attack also damaged a building housing a humanitarian aid unit, municipal offices, and hospital facilities.

"None of the sites that came under shelling, not to mention private houses that are destroyed daily, had anything to do with military infrastructure," Zadorenko said.

Britain urged allies to keep arming Ukraine and to ramp up sanctions against Russia, as the Group of Seven industrialised nations held talks in northern Germany on Friday.

"It is very important at this time that we keep up the pressure on Vladimir Putin by supplying more weapons to Ukraine, by increasing the sanctions," said British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss this morning as she arrived for a second day of talks with her G7 counterparts.

"G7 unity has been vital during this crisis," she added.

Authorities in Moldova's Moscow-backed breakaway region of Transnistria has said two attempted attacks were carried out on infrastructure in the regional capital Tiraspol.

The incidents come after a string of attacks were reported in the separatist region with fears mounting of a spillover from the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine.

"At around 4:15 in the morning, a car stopped near an oil depot of one enterprise, from which an unidentified man got out, threw a Molotov cocktail towards the building and fled," the interior ministry of the self-proclaimed republic said in a statement.

It said that some grass caught fire but it was "quickly" extinguished.

Around 30 minutes later, "two Molotov cocktails were thrown" at a conscription office in central Tiraspol.

"One bounced off onto the sidewalk, the other got stuck in window grates. The fire was promptly extinguished by security," the ministry said.

The self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria bordering Ukraine seceded from Moldova in 1992 after a brief war with Chisinau. Around 1,500 Russian soldiers have been based there ever since.

Ukraine said it had damaged a Russian navy logistics ship near Snake Island, a small but strategic outpost in the Black Sea.

Renewed fighting around Snake Island in recent days may become a battle for control of the western Black Sea coast, according to some defence officials, as Russian forces struggle to make headway in Ukraine's north and east.

"Thanks to the actions of our naval seamen, the support vessel Vsevolod Bobrov caught fire - it is one of the newest in the Russian fleet," said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration.

Satellite imagery provided by Maxar, a private U.S.-based company, showed the aftermath of what it said were probable missile attacks on a Russian Serna-class landing craft near the island, close to Ukraine's sea border with Romania.

Images also showed recent damage to buildings on the island, which became famous for the foul-mouthed defiance of its Ukrainian defenders early in the invasion.

Ukrainian forces have successfully prevented an attempted Russian river crossing in the Donbas, the Ministry of Defence said in its regular Twitter bulletin on Friday.

Images suggest that Russia has lost armoured manoeuvre elements of at least one battalion tactical group and the deployed pontoon bridging equipment while crossing the Siverskyi Donets river west of Severodonetsk, the MoD said in its intelligence update.

 Read more: A bridge too far for Russian invaders as whole battalion destroyed in failed river crossing mission

Russian forces who attacked schools in the Chernihiv region were on Thursday night branded 'sick and incurable' by Ukraine's president.

Volodymyr Zelensky also condemned what he suggested were senseless attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donbas.

Mr Zelensky said: "Of course, the Russian state is in such a state that any education only gets in its way. But what can be achieved by destroying Ukrainian schools? All Russian commanders who give such orders are simply sick, and incurable."

Noting that Thursday is International Nurses Day, Mr Zelensky also thanked Ukraine's nurses and other medical workers for their part in the fight. He said since the invasion began, the Russian military had damaged 570 medical facilities, destroying 101 hospitals.

The Foreign Secretary has urged a meeting of G7 foreign ministers to maintain sanctions against Russia until it has fully withdrawn from Ukraine.

The BBC reported Liz Truss used the meeting in Germany to urge for rolling sanctions until all troops have left the country.

Ms Truss implored for more help to be provided militarily, saying: "(Vladimir) Putin is humiliating himself on the world stage. We must ensure he faces a defeat in Ukraine that denies him any benefit and ultimately constrains further aggression."

"The best long-term security for Ukraine will come from it being able to defend itself. That means providing Ukraine with a clear pathway to Nato-standard equipment."

Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian forces of being "cowards who hide behind air strikes" after the Kremlin targeted a refinery in the Kremenchuk, on the Zaporizhzhia region and the Donbas.

In his nightly video address to the nation, Ukraine's president said: "They are cowards, and they try to hide the truth behind missiles, air strikes and artillery shelling." 

"Therefore our task is to fight until we achieve our goals in this war: to free our land, our people and secure our security."

Mr Zelensky also accused Russian forces of bombing schools in Ukraine. A school in Novhorod-Siverskyi, in the Chernihiv region, was on Thursday destroyed by Russian shelling, below. 

German industrial giant Siemens AG says it is exiting Russia, where it has operated for almost 170 years.

"We condemn the war in Ukraine and have decided to carry out an orderly process to wind down our industrial business activities in Russia," Roland Busch, the Munich-based company's chief executive, said on Thursday.

Siemens had been one of the first companies to put all new business in Russia, along with international deliveries to the country, on hold following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.

The company said it had been evaluating the situation with the aim of ensuring the safety of its 3,000 employees in Russia.

The maker of trains and industrial equipment said the Russia sanctions shaved off about 600,000 euros (£510,000) from its fiscal second-quarter results, which were reported on Thursday.

Nearly 100 children were killed in Ukraine in the past month, the UN's children's agency said on Thursday, as it warned of a "child rights crisis".

Omar Abdi, deputy executive director of Unicef, told the UN Security Council that children are paying "an unconscionably high price" in the war, with 239 confirmed killed and 355 wounded since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24. He said the actual numbers are much higher.

"These attacks must stop," Mr Abdi said. "Ultimately, children need an end to this war - their futures hang in the balance."

Mr Abdi said the school year came to a standstill after Russia invaded, and as of last week at least 15 of 89 Unicef-supported schools in the country's east had been damaged or destroyed in the fighting.

Millions of children have been forced to flee their homes.

• British troops are “ready to go and fight” Russia in a “lethal” way if called upon, the head of an elite unit has said

• The Russian army’s attempt to build a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river ended in catastrophic failure when a significant portion of a battalion was wiped out by Ukrainian artillery

• Russian soldiers have been caught on CCTV shooting two unarmed Ukrainian civilians dead

• Finland was preparing on Thursday night for Russia to cut gas supplies in retaliation for its imminent application to join Nato

• Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, will urge Western allies to go “further and faster” to support Ukraine to “constrain Putin’s aggression”

• Boris Johnson should order that Britain's weapons stockpiles are stepped up to "at least at the scale of the Cold War arsenals" as he faces further pressure to increase defence spending