Russia-Ukraine live news: Russia withdrawing from around Kharkiv

Ukraine’s army says Russian troops are withdrawing from the second-largest city of Kharkiv after after weeks of heavy bombardment.

Intense shelling destroyed large parts of the city of Kharkiv. [File: Felipe Dana/AP]

By Ali Harb, Kate Mayberry, Usaid Siddiqui and Federica Marsi-13 May 202213 May 2022

 

• Ukraine’s general staff says Russian troops were pulling back from the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
• Turkey’s foreign minister has expressed opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO, saying the two countries are supporting the PKK and YPG.
• Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says “very complex negotiations” with Russia are under way to get fighters out of the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
• Ukrainian forces are on the counteroffensive near the Russian-held town of Izium, striking at a key axis of Russia’s assault in the east.
• Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland as of Saturday, a supplier says, amid tensions over the European nation’s expected NATO bid.

[Al Jazeera]

Here are all the latest updates:

53 seconds ago (20:08 GMT)

Russia denies Ukraine forces damaged navy ship in Black Sea

Russia has dismissed Ukraine’s claim it had damaged a modern navy logistics ship in the Black Sea and showed photos of what it said was the vessel with no signs of damage.

In an online post, the Russian defence ministry published photos it said had been taken of the ship in the Crimean Black Sea port of Sevastopol.

“It is now clear from the photographs that the ship is not damaged at all,” it said.

Military authorities in the southern Odesa region said that Ukrainian naval forces had struck the Vsevolod Bobrov, setting it alight.

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42 mins ago (19:26 GMT)

Medvedev dismisses G7 support of Ukraine territorial integrity

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed a declaration by the Group of Seven to “never” recognise border changes brought about by Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

“To put it mildly, our country doesn’t care about the G7’s non-recognition of the new borders,” he said on his Telegram channel.

Arguing that the will of the people living in a region was all that mattered, Medvedev called the G7’s promise to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons a continuation of its “covert war against Russia.”\

47 mins ago (19:21 GMT)

Situation in Donbas region remains very difficult: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the situation in the Donbas region remained very difficult, adding that Russian forces were still trying to demonstrate some kind of victory.

“On the 80th day of a full-scale invasion this seems especially crazy, but they are not stopping their efforts,” he said in a late night video address.

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2 hours ago (18:01 GMT)

NATO will find sensible solution for Finnish, Swedish membership: Latvia

NATO will find a sensible solution to accept Finland and Sweden as new members to the alliance despite Turkish concerns, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevics has said.

“We have had those discussions in the alliance many times before. I think that we have always found sensible solutions and that we will find one this time also,” he told reporters as he arrived for a meeting with his NATO counterparts in Berlin.

“Swedish and Finnish membership is of paramount importance to the whole alliance, and ultimately also to Turkey.”

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3 hours ago (17:39 GMT)

G7 warn of Ukraine grain crisis, ask China not to aid Russia

The G7 leading economies has warned that urgent measures are needed to unblock stores of grain that Russia is preventing from leaving Ukraine.

“Russia’s war of aggression has generated one of the most severe food and energy crises in recent history which now threatens those most vulnerable across the globe,” the G7 said in statements released at the end of the three-day meeting on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast.

“We are determined to accelerate a coordinated multilateral response to preserve global food security and stand by our most vulnerable partners in this respect,” the group added.

It also urged China “to desist from engaging in information manipulation, disinformation and other means to legitimise Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”--------------------------------------

3 hours ago (17:21 GMT)

 

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