Russo-Ukraine War: Moscow plans to annex Donetsk and Luhansk, US says; UK pledges another £300m in military aid – Live | Ukraine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will appreciate Ukraine’s resistance against tyranny as an example to the world Later during a virtual address to the country’s parliament promise another £300m ($375m) more in military aid to Ukraine.

Recalling Britain’s resolve during World War II, Johnson would say that “we remember the hour of our greatest crisis as our finest hour”. He would say that the bravery displayed by those trying to defend their country from Russian invaders meant the war would also be known as Ukraine’s “finest hour”.

The speech to Ukrainian lawmakers counteracts a move by the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who delivered a landmark speech to the House of Commons in March.

Johnson will become the first world leader to address the Verkhovna Rada since the conflict began, and will seek to show critics that he remains focused on international affairs, despite persistent questions over his leadership.

Britain has also promised it will provide £300m ($375m) more in military aid to Ukraine, On top of the nearly £200 million in aid so far, including electronic warfare equipment and a counter-battery radar system, Reuters reports.

Britain has sent more than 5,000 anti-tank missiles and five air defense systems as well as other munitions and explosives to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on 24 February.

The US previously warned that Russia plans to formally “annex” the Donetsk and Luhansk regions east of Ukraine.

Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told reporters in Washington on Monday:

According to the most recent reports, we believe that Russia will try to merge the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and the ‘Lugansk People’s Republic’ into Russia.

The report said Russia is planning to hold a referendum on joining sometime in mid-May.

“It’s straight out of the Kremlin’s playbook,” he said.

Carpenter said the US also believes that Russia is considering a similar plan in the third region of Kherson, where Moscow recently tightened its control and used its ruble currency.

We think the reports are highly reliable. Unfortunately we’ve been more right than wrong in uncovering what we believe, and so that’s part of what we’re trying to do here.

Such a fake referendum – a concoction vote – would not be considered valid, and neither would any attempt to annex additional Ukrainian territory.

But we have to act with urgency.”

Carpenter said it is also possible that Russia’s leaders will try to take over other parts of Ukraine by imposing “puppets and proxies” in local governments and ousting democratically elected officials. He said this appeared to be Moscow’s initial aim in Kyiv – a plan that would include establishing a new constitution in Ukraine – but that Russian forces were forced to withdraw to the east and south of the country as they were unable to take the capital. were.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

I’m Samantha Locke and by the time my colleagues in London take the reins a little later in the day, I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments.

The European Commission Work is expected to be finalized today on the next and sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia, which will include a ban on buying Russian oil.

boris johnson Ukraine’s parliament will become the first world leader to address the Verkhovna Rada, as the conflict began when he delivers a virtual speech at the country’s parliament today.

It is 8.30 am in Ukraine. Here’s everything you might have missed:

• Some of the first civilians to be evacuated from a huge steel plant in Mariupol reportedly arrived in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhya on Monday After an overnight bus journey, it got delayed in the front row. Ukraine’s military police said in a statement that more than 100 civilians – mostly women, children and the elderly – were evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant. Hundreds of people are still believed to be trapped in the city’s last bastion of resistance.
• On Sunday, as buses evacuating civilians from the plant left the plant, Russia resumed shelling at the Azovstal steel works. Despite hundreds of civilians trapped insidePetro Andryshchenko, an aide to the city mayor, said.
• A Ukrainian fighter in Mariupol says more than 200 civilians are trapped inside bunkers Azovstal Steelworks Despite an evacuation operation led by the United Nations. Captain Svyatoslav Palmar, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov regiment, told Reuters that his fighters could hear the sounds of people trapped in the bunkers, but did not have the necessary equipment to clear the debris.
• Ahead The evacuation of civilians trapped in Mariupol has resumed from 7 am on Tuesday With the support of the United Nations and the Red Cross, the city council made the announcement.
• A Russian rocket attack struck the Black Sea port city of Odessa in southwestern Ukraine, causing deaths and injuries. The strike hit a strategically important bridge across the Dniester estuary. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that a 14-year-old boy was killed and a 17-year-old girl was injured. “How did these children and the hostel threaten the Russian state?” Zelensky said in his video address of the night.
• The US says Russian forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region – where large numbers of fighting are taking place – are suffering from poor command and control, low morale and less than ideal logistics., “We continue to see minimal, best progress by the Russians in the Donbass,” a senior US Defense Department official said in a statement on Monday.
• Russia plans to link Donetsk and Luhansk with “sham” electionsUS officials believe. Russia may also consider doing the same in Kherson, where it already has the ruble as the official currency. “Reports say Russia is planning a referendum on joining sometime in mid-May,” Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told reporters.
• Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was asked to address how Russia can say it needs to “condemn” the country when its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish., in an interview with Italian TV. Lavrov replied He Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood” and defending Russia’s policy of “denial” in Ukraine as “the craziest anti-Jews are”, the Kremlin’s term for a broader purge that Ukraine calls “mass murder”. There’s an excuse for.
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Lavrov’s comments showed “Russia has forgotten all the lessons of World War II”. Israel has summoned the Russian ambassador and demanded an apology and world leaders condemned the remarks.
• Britain has said it will provide £300m ($375m) more in military aid to Ukraine, On top of the nearly £200 million in aid so far, including electronic warfare equipment and a counter-battery radar system, Reuters reports.
• Boris Johnson will serve as an example to the world lauding Ukraine’s resistance against tyranny as he delivers a virtual speech to the country’s parliament on Tuesday. Johnson will become the first world leader to address the Verkhovna Rada since the conflict began.
• More than 70 of the 90 M-777 howitzers sent by the US are now in Ukrainian hands, with more than 140,000 155mm rounds, said a senior US Defense Department official. In the last 24 hours, Two dozen flights carrying American weapons have landed near UkraineOfficials said, and 11 more are planned in the coming 24 hours.
• The European Commissioner for Energy has said that Russia’s demands for fuel payments to be made in rubles were to be turned down Despite the risk of supply interruption at a time without alternative gas supply. After a meeting of EU energy ministers, Kadri Simson said that all energy ministers had acknowledged that making payments in rubles through a mechanism set by Russia violated sanctions imposed by the bloc following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Will happen.
• The European Commission Work on the next and sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia is expected to be finalized on Tuesday, Including a ban on buying Russian oil At the next meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council, the bloc’s chief diplomat said on Monday. although it Could save Hungary and Slovakia from soon-to-be sanctions on buying Russian oil, accounting for the two countries’ dependence on Russian crude, two EU officials said on Monday.
  
• Germany says it is ready to support immediate EU sanctions on Russian oil, a major change from Moscow’s biggest energy customer that could let Europe impose such a ban in a matter of days. “We have managed to reach a position where Germany is able to tolerate an oil embargo,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in Brussels on Monday. “That means it won’t be without consequences.”