Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow accidentally bombs own city of Belgorod

A Moscow court today issued a warrant for the arrest of the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, accusing the spy chief of organising “terrorist attacks” inside Russia, state-owned news agency RIA reported.

Reuters reports that the RIA cited the court as saying that Budanov was accused of offences related to terrorism and arms smuggling.

The move against him was announced “in absentia”, in an apparent acknowledgement that Budanov cannot be immediately detained.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine last year, a number of explosions have hit Russian infrastructure, arms dumps and military facilities.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for many of the strikes, while Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) previously named Budanov as the organiser of an explosion that damaged the bridge linking Russia to the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in October.

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Ukraine’s Military Intelligence chief Budanov speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kyiv. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has posted a tweet of the latest map showing the situation in Ukraine.

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said all member countries have agreed that Ukraine will eventually join the transatlantic military alliance once the war is over, ahead of a meeting of western defence ministers discussing further military aid for Kyiv.

Further announcements on weapons and support are expected after the summit at the Ramstein airbase in Germany, but Stoltenberg also sounded notably upbeat about Ukraine’s longer-term prospects for joining Nato.

“All Nato allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member,” he said. “President Zelenskiy has a very clear expectation, we discussed this.

“Both the issue of membership but also security guarantees, and of course Ukraine needs security. Because no one can tell when and how this war ends. But what we do know is that when the war ends, we need to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.”

Read more: All Nato members have agreed Ukraine will eventually join, says Stoltenberg

The Canadian government on Friday announced C$39 million (£23.26 million) in new military assistance for Ukraine that will include 40 sniper rifles, 16 radio sets and a donation to a Nato fund to help Kyiv in its war against Russia, Reuters reports.

The latest round of Canadian aid, which also includes ammunition for the rifles, was announced by defence minister Anita Anand at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Nato defence officials are meeting to discuss new military supplies for Ukraine.

The rifles and ammunition will be sourced from Canada-based Prairie Gun Works, while the radios will be from L3Harris Technologies, according to a statement from the Canadian defence ministry.

The contribution to the Nato fund, of about C$34.6 million (£20.6 million), will help to provide Ukraine with fuel supplies and other assets.

Anand said:

The donations and support announced by Canada today will help ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to defend its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.

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Canada’s defence minister Anita Anand talks to journalists during a press statement prior to the meeting of the ‘Ukraine Defense Contact Group’ at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, Friday, April 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) Photograph: Matthias Schräder/AP

The UK’s Ministry of Defence said on Friday in its daily intelligence update of the war that “severe mud” across most of Ukraine will probably slow operations for both sides in the conflict.

However, Russian online news outlets are likely to be exaggerating the impact of conditions on Ukrainian forces in order to boost morale in their own ranks, the update said.

The intelligence update added that conditions were expected to improve in the coming weeks and that the threat from mines “probably continues to be a more important factor in limiting the combatants’ off-road manoeuvre”.

The UK has today imposed sanctions on five people linked to the arrest of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was jailed for 25 years this week.

Elena Lenskaya – a judge who approved Kara-Murza’s arrest, along with Denis Kolesnikov and Andrei Zadachin – investigators involved in the arrest of Kara-Murza, will all be hit with sanctions.

FSB agents Alexander Samofal and Konstantin Kudryavtsev, who followed Kara-Murza on multiple trips before he was poisoned in 2015, will also be receive sanctions.

Foreign secretary James Cleverly said:

Russia’s treatment and conviction of Vladimir Kara-Murza once again demonstrates its utter contempt for basic human rights.

Today five individuals connected to his case have been sanctioned, sending a clear message that the UK will not stand for this treatment of one of its citizens.

The UK will continue to support Mr Kara-Murza and his family. I call on Russia to release him immediately and unconditionally.

Our Russian affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer has details below of the dissident’s imprisonment earlier this week:

Related: Moscow jails activist for 25 years for opposing Ukraine war

• A Russian warplane has accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgorod near Ukraine, causing an explosion and damaging buildings, the Tass news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying. Late on Thursday, local authorities reported a large blast in the city, which lies just across the border from Ukraine. Belgorod’s regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said two women had been injured and four apartment buildings and four cars damaged. Announcing a state of emergency, he said on the Telegram messaging app there was a “huge” crater 20 metres (65ft) wide in the city centre.

• Secretary general of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, on Friday reaffirmed Nato’s committment that Ukraine would eventually join the military alliance. Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group at Ramstein airbase in Germany, Reuters reports he also told the media that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Kyiv must have “the deterrence to prevent new attacks”.

• Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, posted that he had a “fruitful” bilateral meeting with his US counterpart at Ramstein airbase in Germany on Friday morning.

• Ukraine’s future lies in Nato, Stoltenberg had said on Thursday during his first visit to the country since Russia’s invasion 14 months ago. Nato’s chief pledged continued military support for Ukraine, saying: “Nato stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.” He invited the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to the Nato summit in Vilnius in July.

• Zelenskiy said Nato needed to invite Ukraine to become a member and give it a timeframe for accession. “There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance,” he said. “And now, when most people in Nato countries and the majority of Ukrainians support Nato accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions.”

• Ukraine’s air defence has claimed to have downed eight Iranian-manufactured “Shahed” drones overnight.

• The first trucks carrying Ukrainian food products including corn and eggs were bound to start transit via Poland to the Netherlands on Friday morning, a Polish customs official said, as rules allowing the shipments took effect overnight.

• The G7 is considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing Japanese government sources.

Here is our video report on a Russian warplane accidentally fired a weapon into the Russian city of Belgorod, causing an explosion and damaging buildings.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has today said that Russian troops in Ukraine are fighting “for the future of our country”, and urged Russians to put aside internal divisions.

Tass reports that the leader of Russia’s Orthodox church, who has been vocal in his support for the invasion of Ukraine, said: “We really need to be united today … hostility towards each other is like treason to the Motherland.”

He urged Russians to work together so that “then we will have the power that those who dream of the ruin of the Russian land will be afraid of”, and said that “defence of the Motherland” is “the greatest duty and sacred deed” for every person.

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Patriarch Kirill, centre right, conducts an Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow on Sunday. Photograph: Oleg Varov/AP

Adm Viktor Liina, who served as commander of the Baltic fleet of the Russian navy, has been appointed commander of the Pacific fleet, according to Russian state-owned news agency Tass.

He replaces Adm Sergei Avakyants, who stepped down earlier this week immediately after the navy had conducted a series of drills in a surprise inspection.

Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has posted that he had a “fruitful” bilateral meeting with his US counterpart at Ramstein airbase in Germany this morning, tweeting:

We had a fruitful bilateral meeting with our American counterparts. It was a candid conversation in a common language. I am grateful to Ukraine’s great friends, Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley, for their leadership in bolstering the anti-Kremlin coalition. We are efficiently and transparently leveraging the assistance that has been provided by the American people. The enemy will feel the consequences of our agreements.

The first trucks carrying Ukrainian food products including corn and eggs were bound to start transit via Poland to the Netherlands on Friday morning, Reuters reports a Polish customs official said, as rules allowing the shipments took effect overnight.

The rules brought an end to a ban that was introduced without notice on 15 April leaving many companies with goods stranded across the border in Ukraine.

Here are a couple of images from the gathering at Ramstein airbase in Germany this morning, where defence ministers from Ukraine’s allies are meeting.

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US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin (L) speaks in the presence of Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov (R) during the fourth meeting of Ukraine defence contact group. Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

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Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg at Ramstein airbase. Photograph: Heiko Becker/Reuters

Earlier, Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted:

Today, we mark the one-year anniversary of this format. On the agenda are an analysis of what’s been done, our strategy for 2023, current needs of the armed forces, and the distribution of assistance programmes to all divisions of Ukraine’s defence forces. We feel the support of our partners, and we continue to strive for victory.

Reuters reports the lower house of parliament in the Czech Republic passed legislation on Friday requiring the state budget to devote at least 2% of gross domestic product to defence, starting next year.

Romania will not unilaterally ban the import of Ukrainian grains and will wait for the European Commission to enforce measures to help central and eastern European farmers, agriculture minister Petre Daea said on Friday.

However, Romania and Ukraine will consult weekly on expected grain volumes, seeking to limit imports, Reuters reports Daea said after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykola Solskyi, in Bucharest.

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, on Friday reaffirmed Nato’s committment that Ukraine would eventually join the military alliance.

Speaking before a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group at Ramstein airbase in Germany, Reuters reports he also told the media that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Kyiv must have “the deterrence to prevent new attacks”.

Earlier this week, in an appearance in Kyiv alongside Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Stoltenberg invited Ukraine’s president to the next Nato summit in Vilnius.

In February, Stoltenberg said“: “Nato allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance, but at the same time that is a long-term perspective, what is the issue now is to ensure that Ukraine prevail as a sovereign, independent nation, and therefore we need to support Ukraine.”

China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that no country had the right to interfere in its relationship with Russia.

Reuters reports ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remark at a news briefing when asked to comment on the US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen saying that China’s “no limits” partnership with Russia indicated it was not serious about ending the war in Ukraine.

Christopher Miller of the FT writes on Twitter that Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office has confirmed to him that Ukraine’s president will attend the Nato summit in Vilnius in July – pending developments on the ground in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air defence has claimed to have downed eight Iranian-manufactured “Shahed” drones overnight. In its morning news round-up, Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, posted:

During the night air alert, the Russian military released 12 “Shahed” drones over Ukraine, eight of them shot down by air defence forces, the air force said.

At night in Poltava, the Russian army targeted a civilian infrastructure object, there is damage. There were no victims.

Also, during the night air alert, a hit to an infrastructure facility in Vinnytsia region was recorded.

Over the past day, two people were killed and three were injured due to Russian shelling in Kherson oblast.

Agence France-Presse is today carrying an interview with Alla Trubacheva, who has lived in east Ukraine since she trained as a doctor more than four decades ago. The hospital where she worked has been shelled to ruin by Russian forces, but she remains a lifeline to hold-out residents in what’s left of Siversk’s population of 10,000.

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Family doctor Alla Trubacheva works in her cabinet at her home in the town of Siversk, Donetsk region. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images

The ailing come day and night to Trubacheva’s small office. “Headaches, sore throats, high blood pressure, stress, insomnia – you’ve got it all,” she told AFP’s reporters.

She recounted how one patient last year – one among around 200 that she keeps track of in a school exercise book – was struggling with a blocked trachea.

“I don’t want to congratulate myself too much, but if I hadn’t been there, he would have died,” she said, her hands folded on her lap. “We always need medicine, and we need it even more during times of war.”

She added: “There’s shelling here every day. The buildings were destroyed a long time ago.”

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A partly destroyed local hospital in Siversk. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Trubacheva said she salvaged much from the shelled laboratory at the hospital after it was hit last summer, and an uptick in humanitarian support means her small office is well stocked.

She advises patients grappling with the stresses of war to leave. “Leave! If people come and say they can’t sleep or they feel bad, I tell them to leave,” she said, adding that many ignore the advice.

“People become attached to where they live, you see. It’s scary, but not everyone leaves.”

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that overnight Russian forces struck Bilopillia in the region three times. Citing the local authorities, it reports that there were no casualties.

Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.

Our top story this morning: a Russian warplane has accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgorod near Ukraine, causing an explosion and damaging buildings, the Tass news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.

Elsewhere, the Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang, has said China is not inflaming the situation in Ukraine, and advocates a peaceful resolution of international disputes through dialogue and diplomacy.

More on these stories shortly. In the meantime here are the other key recent developments in the war:

• Ukraine’s future lies in Nato, the western military alliance’s chief said during his first visit to the country since Russia’s invasion 14 months ago. Jens Stoltenberg pledged continued military support for Ukraine, saying: “Nato stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.” He invited the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to the Nato summit in Vilnius in July.

• Zelenskiy said Nato needed to invite Ukraine to become a member and give it a timeframe for accession. “There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance,” he said. “And now, when most people in Nato countries and the majority of Ukrainians support Nato accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions.”

• Zelenskiy has asked Mexico for its support to organise a summit with Latin American countries to help end the Russian invasion. The appeal on Thursday follows comments by the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who said in China last week that Washington should stop “encouraging” the war, and that the United States and the European Union “need to start talking about peace”.

• The US president, Joe Biden, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, signalled efforts Thursday to ease tensions in the wake of the French leader’s recent remarks on Taiwan and the European security relationship with Washington. Referring to Macron’s push for China to play a role in forging a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, a statement from his office said: “China had a role to play in contributing, in the medium term, in ending the conflict in accordance with the principles and aims of the United Nations charter.” It also said: “The two heads of state agreed on the importance of continuing to engage Chinese authorities on this basis.”

• Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, will meet the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Monday, according to Russia’s ambassador to the UN. The two last met at the G20 summit in Bali in November. According to ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, the Black Sea grain deal will be an item for the meeting on Monday.

• Denmark, together with the Netherlands, is to donate 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Denmark’s acting defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said they were not Danish tanks, but tanks “which are bought in collaboration with the Netherlands”. The foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, described it as “a very significant contribution”.

• The admiral of Russia’s Pacific fleet has left his position after a check of its combat readiness. Adm Sergei Avakyants left his post as commander as it was announced he will oversee a new centre for military sports training and “patriotic education”. Units from the Pacific fleet had been taking part in inspection exercises that were announced by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, last week.

• The Financial Times has reported that a leaked US intelligence report shows that China refused a request from the Wagner mercenary group for weapons. Wagner’s request in early 2023 suggested “it had some confidence Beijing would be open to arming Moscow, going beyond other non-lethal forms of support for the military campaign provided by Chinese companies”, according to the FT.

• A group of Ukrainian servicemen have been accused of treason for giving away information during an unauthorised mission that enabled Russia to attack a military airfield, Ukraine’s SBU security agency said. The SBU announced in a statement that the servicemen had attempted, “without coordination with the relevant state authorities”, to seize a Russian plane last July after its pilot said he would defect.

• The US and other allies of Ukraine are considering an outright ban on most exports to Russia in an attempt to increase economic pressure on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The report by Bloomberg says discussions are under way ahead of the G7 leaders’ summit in May. It is thought that it will be followed by similar actions by EU member states.

• The US announced $325m in new military aid for Ukraine, including additional ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), advanced missiles and anti-tank mines. It is the 36th security package since the war began in February 2022.

The G7 is considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing Japanese government sources.

Bloomberg news on Thursday also reported that the United States and Ukraine’s allies were considering “an outright ban on most exports to Russia”. That report said officials from G7 nations were discussing the idea before a summit meeting in Japan next month.

Asked about the Bloomberg report, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, said the government was aware of it but refrained from commenting on exchanges among G7 countries and like-minded nations about possible further sanctions against Russia.

“What is important for ending Russian aggression as soon as possible is that G7 remains united for severe sanctions against Russia and strong support for Ukraine,” he told a press briefing.

China is not inflaming the situation in Ukraine, and advocates a peaceful resolution of international disputes through dialogue and diplomacy, the Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang, said on Friday.

China has no intention to engage in a major power competition, Qin said at the Lanting Forum in Shanghai, adding that it opposes attempts to build walls and barriers to interrupt international supply chains.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is set to begin a trip abroad on Saturday taking him through Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom.

DeSantis said in March that the Ukraine war is a “territorial dispute” and that it is not of strategic interest to the US, a position he has since partially walked back. Those comments provoked criticism from Democrats and many Republicans, though it is a stance he shares with about half of the party’s base as well as Republican former president Donald Trump.

So, while the trip is officially billed as a trade mission, the tour is widely seen as an attempt to burnish his foreign policy credentials in the lead-up to an official announcement, expected in the late spring or early summer.

Less than two years ago, Object No 2, a gigantic bomb shelter built underneath Samara’s vast Kuybyshev Square, was being considered by Russian tourism officials as a museum site.

The original design and decor of the 1940s shelter, built on orders from Joseph Stalin about 40 metres underground with office furniture and other details from the pre-nuclear age, would have been a logical addition to the city’s subterranean attractions. As the Soviet Union’s reserve capital during the second world war, the city sits on top of a huge complex of underground bunkers, of which Object No 2 is thought to be one of the largest.

With the launch of the invasion of Ukraine and an order by Vladimir Putin to start civil defence preparation in regions across the country, thousands of Russian bomb shelters are being reviewed for refurbishment and renovation in the still unlikely – but for a while unthinkable – case of missile strikes on the Russian heartland.

For years, Samara’s bunkers, by some estimates the third most developed in Russia after Moscow and St Petersburg, have generated a cult following among the city’s urban historians and diggers, who illegally tunnel under the city, and have become the source of numerous urban legends:

Related: Putin looks back to WWII with refurb of Stalin-era bomb shelters

A Russian warplane has accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgorod near Ukraine, causing an explosion and damaging buildings, the Tass news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.

Late on Thursday, local authorities reported a large blast in the city, which lies just across the border from Ukraine. The regional governor said two women had been injured.

“As a Sukhoi Su-34 air force plane was flying over the city of Belgorod there was an accidental discharge of aviation ammunition,” the defence ministry said, according to Tass.

Belgorod’s regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announcing a state of emergency, said on Telegram there was a crater measuring 20 metres (65ft) across on one of the main streets. Four cars and four apartment buildings were damaged, he added.

The defence ministry did not say what kind of weapon was involved, Reuters reports. The Su-34 is a supersonic fighter-bomber jet. The ministry said some buildings had been damaged and announced an investigation was already under way, according to Tass.

Video footage from the site showed piles of concrete on the street, several damaged cars and a building with broken windows. One shot showed what appeared to be a car upside down on the roof of a store.

The Belgorod region is one of several parts of southern Russia where targets such as fuel and ammunition stores have been rocked by explosions since the start of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.

Related: Russian plane accidentally strikes Russian city near Ukraine border leaving 20m crater