Institute for the Study of War says Russian outlets reporting mass checks at government agencies ‘due to the leakage of data’
Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
Our top story this morning: Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, appears to be conducting “a large-scale overahaul of domestic security organs,” the Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, reports in its update today.
Ukraine has received two types of air defence system ahead of the Rammstein military group meeting on Thursday, where it will ask for more supplies. A Patriot air defence system delivery was confirmed by the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, on Wednesday. The second of four promised German Iris-T system were also delivered, according to a German newspaper which had spoken to government officials. No official announcements have been made.
The United States announced $325m in new military aid for Ukraine, including additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, advanced missiles and anti-tank mines. It is the 36th security package since the war began in February 2022.
The European Commission is proposing €100m (£88m) in compensation for EU farmers affected by the recent influx of Ukrainian grain as well as restrictions on selling wheat and maize in affected countries, in a move to calm tensions with central and eastern Europe. Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the commission, has written to the leaders of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, setting out support measures after four of those countries banned the import or sale of grain and other food products inside their borders earlier this week. Bulgaria had confirmed its temporary halt on Wednesday.
Inspections of ships are resuming after a two-day hiatus under a UN-brokered agreement on the safe export of grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said on Wednesday.
A Ukrainian military spokesperson accused Moscow of a “provocation” after Russian proxy forces said Ukrainian forces had blown up four buildings in the eastern city of Bakhmut, killing 20 civilians. The spokesperson said Ukrainian forces never target civilians. Russia also denies targeting civilians.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on Wednesday during a visit to Sweden that the US looks forward to welcoming Sweden as a Nato member before the alliance’s summit in July, and will encourage Turkey and Hungary to ratify accession. Along with Finland, Sweden applied to join Nato in May last year. Finland’s application was processed in record time and it became the 31st member of the alliance earlier this month.
A joint investigation by the public broadcasters of several Nordic countries alleges that Russia has established a programme using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels aimed at giving it the capability to attack windfarms and communications cables in the North Sea.
The Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin has lost an appeal against what his supporters say was a politically motivated decision to jail him for eight and a half years – in a case that has echoes of Monday’s jailing of Vladimir Kara-Murza. The former Moscow councillor’s appeal was rejected as authorities continue to repress freedoms in Russia, with independent media shut down and leading opposition figures behind bars or in exile.
Russia has said it summoned the UK ambassador Deborah Bronnert on Tuesday after she criticised the 25-year jail term given to Kara-Murza. She spoke to reporters outside Moscow city court alongside the US and Canadian ambassadors, describing the sentence as “shocking” and called for Kara-Murza, who holds joint UK and Russian citizenship, to be released immediately.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has visited the Volyn region of Ukraine, which borders with Belarus and Poland, where he praised the work of border guards.
Russian drones struck Ukraine’s southern Odesa region overnight and caused a fire at an infrastructure facility, the head of the military command of the Odesa region, Yuri Kruk, said on Wednesday. No casualties have been reported and firefighters were working at the scene, he said.
