(Bloomberg) — President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he urged the creation of a “full-fledged” tribunal to punish Russia for its aggression. Ukraine’s leader and other officials also redoubled their push for allies to provide Kyiv’s troops with modern fighter jets.
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Russia claimed the US was behind a drone strike on the Kremlin that it blamed on Ukraine, but provided no evidence. Ukraine has denied any responsibility, while the US on Wednesday expressed skepticism and said it had no advance warning. A US-based think tank said Russia “likely staged this attack” in a bid to “set conditions for a wider societal mobilization.”
Pilotless aircraft also dominated attention in Ukraine, where the mayor of Kyiv said a Russian drone was shot down over the capital city, and Russia said a drone was shot down over Crimea.
Key Developments
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EU Aims to Target Nations Through Which Russia Evades Sanctions
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Russia Says Washington Put Kyiv Up to Alleged Drone Strike: Tass
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Russia Says Oil Cut Pledge Backed by Drop in EU Pipeline Flows
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The Ugly Case for Supporting Ukraine: Leonid Bershidsky
(All times CET)
Kyiv Mayor Says a Russian Drone Was Shot Down Over City (8:44 p.m.)
A Russian drone was shot down over central Kyiv, with the wreckage causing fires in two municipal districts, according to the Telegram channels of Mayor Vitali Klitschko and the city’s military administration.
Multiple explosions were heard in the capital on Thursday evening amid air raid alerts.
Russia Says a Drone Was Shot Down Over Crimea (7:11 p.m.)
A drone was shot down around Russia’s Belbek Airbase, near Sevastopol in Crimea, Tass reported, citing local authorities. “Another attack on Sevastopol. No objects were damaged,” the Russian news agency quoted the Russian-installed governor as saying.
Last weekend a massive fire broke out at a fuel depot in Sevastopol after it was hit by suspected drones. The Belbek airbase has been the frequent target of attacks.
US Spies Can’t Say If Ukraine Drones Targeted Kremlin (6:36 p.m.)
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said US spy agencies don’t have enough information to assess Russia’s claim that Ukraine was behind the drone attack it said was aimed at President Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Kremlin.
“At this stage we don’t have information that would allow us to provide an independent assessment on this,” Haines told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said there are reasons to believe Russia’s claims may be misinformation. Answering questions from Republican Senator Tom Cotton, Berrier agreed that video Russia said showed the attack indicated the drones didn’t appear large enough to inflict significant damage on Putin’s residence. He also agreed that Putin doesn’t sleep at the Kremlin very often.
US Ambassador Visits Paul Whelan in Russian Prison (5:26 p.m.)
Lynne Tracy, the US ambassador to Russia, visited American Paul Whelan at a Russian prison, according to the US Embassy in Russia.
Whelan, a former US Marine, was arrested by Russia in 2018 and accused of spying. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020. The embassy, in a tweet, said securing Whelan’s release “remains an absolute priority” for the US.
Russian Oil Revenues Slump in April Amid Sanctions Hit (5 p.m.)
Revenues shrank to just a third of last year’s level in April, hit by Western sanctions and a currency impact.
Budget proceeds from crude and petroleum products fell 67% to 496.9 billion rubles ($6.3 billion) last month, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. Tax from oil accounted for 77% of total hydrocarbon revenues in April, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the ministry’s data.
Read more: Russian Oil Revenues Slump 67% in April Amid Sanctions
Poland to Boost Anti-Terrorist Protection of Baltic Infrastructure (4:30 p.m.)
The Polish government on Thursday proposed legislation to allow the country to destroy enemy ships or floating objects deemed to pose a terrorist threat to key energy infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. The draft law, which will next be debated by parliament, could be executed only under “exceptional situations,” when there’s no possibility of resorting to other measures.
Poland imports most of its natural gas through an LNG port in the Baltic as well as an undersea pipeline connecting the east European nation with Norway.
Zelenskiy Says He’s Getting Good Vibes on NATO Bid (2:30 p.m.)
Ukraine’s president said he’s had positive messages from some NATO countries “who are ready to support and do something more” at the defense alliance’s summit in Vilnius in July.
Zelenskiy said the most important thing as Kyiv prepares for its spring counteroffensive against Russia is for allies to deliver the promised weapons aid as quickly as possible.
Netherlands says ‘No Taboos’ on Fighter Jets (2:15 p.m.)
The Netherlands has “no taboos” on sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a joint press conference with Zelenskiy and Belgian Premier Alexander De Croo at The Hague. Talks are ongoing between allies to “getting that debate somehow to a conclusion,” Rutte said, adding that “we are not there yet.”
“It is time to take positive decisions for Ukraine on modern aircraft,” Zelenskiy said, adding “There is no rationale to postpone decisions to train our pilots.”
On Twitter, Ukraine’s foreign minister said that Ukraine could use “a squadron of well-equipped F-16s” to patrol the Black Sea grain corridor. Russia has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the pact that’s allowed millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to be shipped since last summer.
Official Says Polish Grain Ban Cost Ukraine $143 Million (2 p.m.)
The Polish government move to ban imports of Ukraine’s agricultural goods cost Kyiv $143 million last month, deputy economy minister Taras Kachka told Brussels Economic Forum.
The EU Commission “will pay Polish farmers as a compensation for nothing in my opinion, it was really a bluff from Polish farmers,” Kachka added.
Poland and several other eastern members of the EU imposed restrictions on Ukrainian food exports in April, citing plummeting prices on the market that hurt their farmers. The move drew a rebuke from the EU. “With the Commission’s intervention we are getting some kind of easing of the situation, but the situation has not been resolved,” Kachka said.
Ukraine to Evacuate Remaining Civilians From Avdiivka (12:33 p.m.)
Ukraine plans to evacuate remaining civilians from Avdiivka as fighting intensifies in the area, Serhiy Telyatytskyi, chief of southern defense forces, said on television. The Donestsk-region town had a pre-war population of of 30,000 that has dwindled to a few thousand.
Russian forces mounted 24 storming attempts in the direction of Avdiivka and Maryinka in the past 24-hour period, up from 18 a day earlier. All residents left Maryinka in November.
Zelenskiy Urges Full-Fledged Tribunal to Punish Russia (12:20 p.m.)
Ukraine demands a complete effort to punish Russia for its aggression against Ukraine and to prevent a repetition, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at The Hague. “We need a full-fledged tribunal and true and full justice,” he said.
The experience of Nuremberg, where Allies tried representatives of Nazi Germany after World War II, could be adapted into new operating rules, and shortcomings in the international law should be corrected to ensure justice and to make the punishment inevitable, he said.
Zelenskiy welcomed efforts by the International Criminal Court and the creation of the list of damages inflicted by Russia during the 14-month-old war, saying it was a “step forward” to set up a compensation mechanism for future reparations.
Russia Says Washington Put Kyiv Up to Alleged Drone Strike: Tass (12:10 p.m.)
No one was hurt in the attacks and damage was limited to two copper panels on the dome of the Kremlin’s Senate Palace, where President Vladimir Putin’s office is located, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Security will be tightened after the incident, he said, without providing details.
Still, Russia has threatened unspecified retaliation for the incident involving two drones, with senior officials calling for more strikes against Kyiv. Video footage posted by state media of a drone exploding over one of the Kremlin’s most-recognizable landmarks underlined the vulnerability of even heavily defended installations.
Russia’s Strikes Continue to Damage Ukraine’s Power Grid Near Front-line (12:05 p.m.)
Russia’s missile and artillery strikes are inflicting more damage on Ukraine’s power grid, though the nation’s electricity supplies remain stable, state-run company NPC Ukrenergo said on Telegram.
While the backbone network has not been damaged in the wake of recent shelling, local electricity distribution companies’ equipment was affected in the regions close to the frontline. This caused localized temporary blackouts such as in the southern city of Kherson, where more than 6,000 customers have been facing power outages.
Meanwhile, power engineers managed to restore electricity supplies to 186,000 consumers in the Donetsk region and to 15,000 customers in the Dnipropetrovsk region after recent shelling.
EU Aims to Target Nations on Sanctions Evasion (11:10 a.m.)
The primary aim of a new mechanism would be to deter countries from helping Russia and crack down on trade channels that Moscow may be exploiting, said people familiar with the issue. If that doesn’t work, the bloc would have the option as a second step of imposing targeted restrictions on key goods.
The bloc also aims to widen the scope of several existing export measures and ban many goods transiting through Russia, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
Death Toll in Russian Strikes at Kherson Rises to 23 (11:05 a.m.)
Massive Russian strikes in the Kherson region Wednesday killed 23 people, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on television. A railway station, a hardware store, a supermarket, a gas station and a house were hit in several attacks during the day.
At least 48 people were injured, Zelenskiy said on Telegram on Wednesday night.
Ukraine’s International Reserves Keep Climbing Toward Record Levels (9:50 a.m.)
Ukraine’s foreign currency and gold reserves climbed 13% from the previous month to more than $35.9 billion, hitting an 11-year high, according to the central bank’s data.
The reserves increased as foreign aid from international partners kept flowing with an overall amount of assistance exceeding $5.8 billion last month, while the central bank has been spending less foreign currency on the foreign exchange market to prop up the hryvna for the fourth consecutive month.
Pressure on the hryvnia has eased in the wake of a tight monetary policy aimed at boosting the attractiveness of hryvnia-denominated savings and the central bank’s refusal to purchase government bonds to support the budget. The country’s reserves peaked at $38.4 billion in April 2011.
Russia Probably Staged Kremlin Drone Incident: US Think Tank Says (9 a.m.)
Russia most likely staged Wednesday’s drone incident at the Kremlin “in an attempt to bring the war home to a Russian domestic audience and seek conditions for a wider societal mobilization,” said military analysts at the Institute for the Study of War.
Several indicators suggest the incident, which Russia blamed on Ukraine, “was internally conducted and purposefully staged,” the US-based think tank said in a daily update. It’s “extremely unlikely that two drones could have penetrated multiple layers of air defense and detonated or been shot down just over the heart of the Kremlin in a way that provided spectacular imagery caught nicely on camera.”
Ukraine Shoots Down 18 out of 24 Russian Drones (8:15 a.m.)
Ukraine shot down 18 Iranian-made Shahed drones, launched by Russia from the northern Bryansk region and the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov in the south, the Air Defense said.
In the southern city of Odesa, three drones hit dormitories, causing fires to start, the military command South said on Facebook. Nobody was injured and 12 drones there were shot down, it said. In Kyiv, the Air Defense shot down all loitering munition and missiles according to initial reports, Serhiy Popko, the head of the capital’s military administration, said on telegram.
Wheat Prices Climb to Six-Month High Over Drone Tensions (8:10 a.m.)
Wheat prices extended their biggest jump in six months as tensions escalated in the Black Sea after Moscow blamed Ukraine for a drone attack on the Kremlin. Kyiv has denied Moscow’s allegations. The flare-up comes at a sensitive time for the future of the safe corridor that allows Ukraine to export crops through the Black Sea.
The deputy defense ministers of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine are due Friday to discuss an extension of the deal, which Russia has said could end on May 18.
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