Russia unleashed a major missile attack on Ukraine on Saturday, smashing a nine-story apartment block in the city of Dnipro, killing at least five people and striking vital energy facilities across the country, officials said.
BATTLE FOR SOLEDAR
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* Russia said on Friday its forces had taken control of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, in what would be a rare success for Moscow after months of battlefield reverses, but Kyiv said its troops were still fighting in the town.
* President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces continued to fight in Soledar, a small salt-mining town, and other cities in the Donetsk region.
* Reuters could not verify the accounts.
* Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, boasted of his forces’ prowess on Saturday amid a simmering rivalry with the defense ministry over who should get credit for leading Russia’s assault on Soledar.
ARMS
* Prime Minister Rishi Sunak outlined Britain’s ambition to send some of its main battle tanks to Ukraine along with additional artillery support during a phone call on Saturday with Zelenskiy, Sunak’s office said.
* France hopes to deliver “AMX 10-RC” light combat tanks to Ukraine in two months, armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Friday.
DIPLOMACY
* Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, after meeting U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday, stressed the importance of standing up to Russia’s invasion, saying that if a unilateral change to the status quo went unchallenged, the same would happen elsewhere, including in Asia – an apparent reference to China’s vow to reunite with self-ruled Taiwan, by force if necessary.
* Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Kishida on Saturday of shameful subservience to the United States and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself.
* Kishida said on Saturday that the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May should demonstrate a strong will to uphold international order and rule of law after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At a news conference in Washington he made no mention of the remarks by Medvedev.
ECONOMY
* Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said that the coming days would be “difficult” on the energy front after a massive missile attack by Russia on Saturday hit critical infrastructure in several regions.
* Russia is becoming too dependent on oil revenues to support its budget as it ramps up military spending, economists said, warning that the government may have to raise taxes if crude prices fail to meet expectations this year.
* At least four Chinese-owned supertankers are shipping Russian Urals crude to China, according to trading sources and tracking data, as Moscow seeks vessels for exports after a G7 oil price cap restricted the use of Western cargo services and insurance. (Compiled by William Mallard and Frances Kerry)
