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IAEA chief to visit Russia on Wednesday – Russian official
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, will visit Russia on Wednesday, Russia’s permanent representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told state television on Monday.
Reuters reports Ulyanov said Grossi would meet a Russian delegation and that they would discuss the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, located in a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine, near the frontline of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Russian forces captured Europe’s largest nuclear power station in March 2022, and since then have been forcing Ukrainian staff to continue to operate it. Both sides have accused the other of shelling the power plant and risking a nuclear accident. Grossi recently visited and inspected the plant for a second time since the war began.
Key events
US ‘pushing hard’ for Wall Street Journal reporter’s release from Russia, says White House
The US government is “pushing hard” for the release of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia on espionage charges, the White House has said.
National security council spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters:
We have been pushing hard since the moment we found out the reporter was detained.
The US is “keenly, strongly, closely” tracking his detention, he added.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog has said its head, Rafael Grossi, will travel to Russia’s Kaliningrad territory on Wednesday for talks on the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.
Russian news agencies had earlier reported that Grossi would visit Moscow, citing a senior diplomat. But a spokesperson for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said he would be visiting the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.
Grossi will visit Kaliningrad “as part of his ongoing consultations aimed at ensuring the protection of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during the military conflict”, the IAEA spokesperson said.
Grossi visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is in territory occupied by Russia since early in its invasion, last week. He said the situation had grown worse and military activity around the site had intensified in recent months.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Finland will become the 31st member of the world’s biggest military alliance on Tuesday, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said. Stoltenberg said Turkey, the last country to ratify Finland’s membership, would hand its official texts to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Tuesday. Stoltenberg said he would then invite Finland to do the same.
Stoltenberg’s announcement prompted a warning from Russia that it would bolster its defences near their joint border if Nato deployed any troops inside the country. “We will strengthen our military potential in the west and in the north-west,” Grushko said in remarks carried by the RIA Novosti state news agency.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has paid tribute to the courage of nearly 400 residents of a village in north Ukraine who were held in a school basement under Russian occupation for 27 days before they were set free a year ago. The Ukrainian leader travelled to Yahidne on Monday, where he gave an emotive speech recalling how villagers were kept captive in a space of less than 200 sq metres during the first month of Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, will visit Moscow on Wednesday, Russia’s permanent representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, has said. Ulyanov said Grossi would meet a Russian delegation and that they would discuss the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, located in a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine, near the frontline of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is scheduled to visit Poland on Wednesday for talks with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda. Zelenskiy will be accompanied by his wife, Olena Zelenska, during his first official visit to Warsaw since Russia’s invasion 13 months ago. Zelenskiy is also expected to hold talks with Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.
Poland has already delivered the first batch of Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, according to the Polish presidential office’s head of international policy, Marcin Przydacz. He did not specify how many jets had been transferred. Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, last month said Warsaw would hand over the first four MiG-29 to Ukraine.
Ukraine has said Russian forces are “very far” from capturing the eastern town of Bakhmut and that fighting raged around the city administration building where the Wagner mercenary group claims to have raised the Russian flag. “Bakhmut is Ukrainian, and they have not captured anything and are very far from doing that to put it mildly,” Serhiy Cherevatiy, a spokesperson for the eastern military command said.
President Zelenskiy has said overnight the fighting in Bakhmut is “especially hot”. His comments came as the Wagner founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his troops had raised a Russian flag on the city’s administrative building. However there was no indication from Ukrainian officials that Bakhmut had fallen into Russian hands and Prigozhin has previously made claims about Wagner’s military progress in the city that were premature.
Russian police have arrested a woman suspected of delivering a bomb that killed a prominent pro-war Russian military blogger in a blast in a cafe in central St Petersburg on Sunday. Vladlen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was killed by a bomb blast as he was hosting a discussion with other pro-war commentators at a cafe on the banks of the Neva River in the historic heart of St Petersburg. Police said they had identified a woman called Darya Trepova as the suspect and that she was arrested in a flat in St Petersburg after a search on Monday morning.
Evan Gershkovich, the US journalist arrested on espionage charges in Russia last week, has appealed against his detention through his lawyers, according to a report. Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Gershkovich’s arrest was “of concern” and called for his “immediate release”.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, has said Moscow will strengthen its military in its western and north-western regions in response to Finland joining Nato tomorrow.
He told Russian state-owned Ria news agency:
In the event that the forces and resources of other Nato members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security.
Finland has a 1,300km (810 mile) border with Russia, and joining Nato will roughly double the alliance’s frontier facing Moscow.
Evan Gershkovich, the US journalist arrested on espionage charges in Russia last week, has appealed against his detention through his lawyers, Interfax news agency reported, citing the court.
Gershkovich, 31, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was detained on Wednesday in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg and accused by Russia’s FSB internal security agency of collecting “classified information” on a company in its military industrial complex.
The WSJ says it “vehemently denies the allegations” and the White House has described the charges as “ridiculous”.
Zelenskiy and Habeck visit village where residents were held for month in school basement
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday paid tribute to the courage of nearly 400 residents of a village in north Ukraine who were held in a school basement under Russian occupation for 27 days before they were set free a year ago.
The Ukrainian leader travelled to Yahidne, where he gave an emotive speech recalling how villagers were kept captive in a space of less than 200 sq metres during the first month of Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
He said that 11 people died during the ordeal.
“These people somehow lived and waited for Ukraine in the dark,” said Zelenskiy, who appeared visibly moved on the anniversary. “They lived standing and sitting.”
Reuters reports that Zelenskiy was joined on the visit to Yahidne, a village in Chernihiv region, by the German vice-chancellor, Robert Habeck, and the Council of Europe secretary general, Marija Pejcinovic Buric.
On his official Telegram channel, Zelenskiy wrote:
I want to thank the residents of Yahidne. They endured torture, a terrible path, the path of absolute heroes. I thank Ukraine for having such fighters for life.
Catherine Russell, the executive director of Unicef, the UN children’s fund, has commented on the announcement by the OHCHR Ukraine civilian casualty update team that the number of children killed in the conflict since February 2022 has risen to at least 501. She said:
This is another tragic milestone for Ukraine’s children and families.
Since the escalation of the war in February 2022, at least 501 children have been killed. This is just the UN-verified number. The real figure is likely far higher, and the toll on families affected is unimaginable.
Almost 1,000 children have been injured, leaving them with wounds and scars – both visible and invisible – that could last for life.
Children and families in Ukraine are paying the highest price for this brutal war. Behind every number is a family torn apart and changed for ever. It is heart-wrenching.
War is always the worst enemy of children, whether in Ukraine, or countless other conflicts around the world. Every child, no matter where they live, deserves to grow up in a peaceful environment.
Tatiana Moskalkova, commissioner for human rights in the Russian Federation, has told the Russian state-owned news agency Tass that Ukraine and Russia have swapped five injured prisoners of war in recent days.
It quotes her saying: “Today, five wounded servicemen of the armed forces of Ukraine have been repatriated to Ukraine. We continue to work in this direction.”
Tass reports that according to her, at the end of March, Ukraine handed over five wounded Russian soldiers who are currently being treated.
“I wish them a speedy recovery and I believe that they will soon return to their families and friends, who will greet them as real heroes,” she is reported as saying.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that in the last day, in the Ukrainian-held areas of Kherson region, pyrotechnicians defused 56 explosive object in de-occupied settlements.
IAEA chief to visit Russia on Wednesday – Russian official
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, will visit Russia on Wednesday, Russia’s permanent representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told state television on Monday.
Reuters reports Ulyanov said Grossi would meet a Russian delegation and that they would discuss the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, located in a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine, near the frontline of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
Russian forces captured Europe’s largest nuclear power station in March 2022, and since then have been forcing Ukrainian staff to continue to operate it. Both sides have accused the other of shelling the power plant and risking a nuclear accident. Grossi recently visited and inspected the plant for a second time since the war began.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has called for the “immediate release” of the US national Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested in Russia last week.
Stoltenberg, speaking at a news conference, said he joined the US in their call on Russia to release Gershkovich. He added:
His arrest is of concern. It is important to respect freedom of the press, the rights of journalists, and the rights to ask questions and to do their jobs. Therefore, we call on his immediate release.
Russian police have been pictured guarding the site of yesterday’s explosion in a cafe in central St Petersburg that killed the prominent pro-war Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky.
Tributes have been laid near the scene of the blast, which took place as Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, was hosting a discussion with other pro-war commentators at a cafe on the banks of the Neva River in the historic heart of the city.
More than 30 people were wounded and 10 of them remain in grave condition from the explosion, according to authorities.
Police have arrested a woman, Darya Trepova, whom they have identified as the suspect. Authorities claim she was a supporter of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Belarus has started combat readiness inspections of its armed forces, the defence ministry has said in a statement published on Telegram.
The ministry said inspections would determine the capacity of military units to perform at “the highest levels of combat readiness”.
Message us your views
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If you’d like to try it, click the “send us a message” under our bylines on the left near the top of this blog.
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Nato has not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture since Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Stoltenberg says.
So far, we haven’t seen any changes in their nuclear posture that requires any change, changing our nuclear posture.
Nato’s position on Ukraine’s bid “remains unchanged” and that is that “Ukraine will become a member of the alliance”, Stoltenberg says.
The main focus however is to “ensure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation in Europe”, he says. So the first and most urgent step is for Kyiv’s allies to sustain and further step up military, lethal, non-lethal and economic support to Ukraine, he says.
Nato is also looking into how it can develop a political relationship with Ukraine, and how it can expand its work on more long-term reforms in institutional building, he says.
It is extremely important to continue to demonstrate that Nato’s door remains open, as we’ll do tomorrow, when Finland will become a full member. As we do when we finalise the accession process for Sweden hopefully in the near future.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has been speaking at a news conference after the announcement that Finland will officially join the military alliance tomorrow.
Finland joining Nato on Tuesday “will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security and for Nato as a whole”, he says.
On the subject of Sweden – which applied to join Nato at the same time as Finland last May but whose membership bid is still being blocked by Turkey – Stoltenberg said the raising of Finland’s flag “is also good for Sweden”. He says he will continue to work on finalising the Swedish accession process.
Finland to officially join Nato on Tuesday
Finland will officially become a member of the Nato military alliance on Tuesday, the Finnish president’s office has said.
Suomesta tulee puolustusliitto Naton jäsen tiistaina 4. huhtikuuta 2023.
Presidentti @Niinisto matkustaa Brysseliin ja osallistuu Naton päämajassa järjestettävään viralliseen liittymisseremoniaan. https://t.co/OKwG0pMQhU
— TPKanslia (@TPKanslia) April 3, 2023
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, confirmed Finland will join the alliance tomorrow.
Germany’s vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, has been pictured arriving in Kyiv for talks in an unannounced visit.
A spokesperson for Germany’s energy and economy ministry confirmed the visit, saying Habeck, who also serves as minister for energy and the economy, arrived in the Ukrainian capital early today.
Habeck was accompanied by a small business delegation including Siegfried Russwurm, president of the federation of German industries. It is Habeck’s first visit to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion 13 months ago.
Habeck said the aim of the talks was to “give Ukraine hope” that the country will be rebuilt after the war. He said the purpose of his visit was to send a clear signal to Kyiv:
A signal that we believe it will be victorious, that it will be rebuilt, that there is an interest from Europe not only to support it in times of need, but that Ukraine will also be an economically strong partner in the future.
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