Key events
Our correspondent Peter Beaumont has reported on the heavy shelling in Kherson, where a 56-hour curfew is due to start on Friday evening amid a marked increase in the intensity of Russian attacks on the southern city this week.
Some residents said they had sent some family away from the city or moved to safer locations further from the river, adding they were anticipating “something big” over the coming days as Ukrainian forces also stepped up shelling of Russian positions.
There is mounting speculation about the timing of the long-anticipated Ukrainian spring counteroffensive, which officials have suggested may be imminent.
You can read the full report here.
China will persist in promoting peace talks on the Ukraine crisis, and is “willing to maintain communication and coordination with Russia to make tangible contributions to the political settlement of the crisis”, China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, said in a statement on Friday.
The statement referred to Qin’s meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa, India, on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Below is a selection of the most recent events.
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Ukraine’s air force said it downed one of its own drones after it lost control over Kyiv on Thursday. Andriy Yermak, Ukraine presidential chief of staff, initially said an enemy drone that had been shot down. But the air force later clarified it was Ukrainian and had been destroyed to avoid “undesirable circumstances”. No casualties were reported.
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The White House has dismissed as “ludicrous” claims by Russia that Washington orchestrated drone strikes on Moscow, saying the US was not involved in the incident and accusing Russia of lying. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “One thing I can tell you for certain is that the US did not have any involvement with this incident, contrary to [Vladimir Putin spokesman] Mr Peskov’s lies, and that’s just what they are: lies.” Earlier, Dmitry Peskov said: “Decisions about such terrorist attacks are taken in Washington” and that Kyiv “just implements these decisions”.
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Russian forces in Ukraine are so degraded they cannot mount any significant offensive moves and are focused for now on consolidating control of occupied territory, the US intelligence chief said. Avril Haines said Putin’s strategy is likely to be to prolong the conflict until western support for Kyiv wanes.
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Vladimir Putin must be brought to justice for his war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday during a visit to The Hague, where the international criminal court (ICC) is based. “We all want to see a different Vladimir here in the Hague, the one who deserves to be sanctioned for his criminal actions here, in the capital of international law,” Zelenskiy said in a speech. “I’m sure we will see that happen when we win,” he said, adding: “Whoever brings war must receive judgment.”
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The US ambassador to Russia visited former US marine Paul Whelan, who has been detained in a remote Russian prison for more than four years. Ambassador Lynne Tracy said: “The US government will continue to engage Russian authorities on his case so Paul can come home as soon as possible.” She did not reveal his condition or what they discussed. Whelan was detained in 2018 and is serving a 16-year sentence for espionage. Analysts have pointed out that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips over the war in Ukraine.
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Residents of the key southern Ukrainian city of Kherson were stocking up on food and water after another night of heavy Russian shelling and before an announced 56-hour curfew due to begin on Friday evening. A number said they planned to stay indoors before the curfew and planned closure of the city, adding that they had slept in their clothes or gone to shelters because of the intensity of the Russian attack.
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Ukrainian air defences said they downed 18 out of 24 kamikaze drones that Russia launched in a pre-dawn attack on Thursday. In a statement, Kyiv city administration said that all missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital for the third time in four days, have been destroyed. No casualties were reported.
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Russian emergency services extinguished a fire at a large oil refinery in Russia two hours after it was hit in a drone attack, Tass news agency reported early on Thursday. TASS said the incident occurred at the Ilsky refinery near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region, and that four drones were used. A day earlier, a fuel depot further to the west caught on fire near a bridge linking Russia’s mainland with the occupied Crimea peninsula.
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Finland has received a diplomatic note from Russia complaining over vandalism at a Russian consulate on the demilitarised Aland island located in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, the Finnish foreign ministry said on Thursday.