Ukraine live blog: ++ Belgorod region reports shelling again ++

According to authorities, the Russian border region of Belgorod has come under fire again. Ukrainian President Zelenskyj thanked Chancellor Scholz for German support. All developments in the live blog.

The Kremlin sees the recent attacks in the Russian Belgorod region as attempts to destabilize Ukraine in the wake of the presidential election. Attacks have increased in the region on the border with Ukraine in recent days. Units from Ukraine have entered Russian territory, as both sides confirm.

EU Council President Charles Michel commented on the start of the presidential election in Russia with sarcasm. “I would like to congratulate (President) Vladimir Putin on his landslide victory in the elections starting today,” the Belgian wrote on the online service X. “No opposition. No freedom. No choice,” he added. The election lasts until Sunday and opposition candidates are not allowed. Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin is therefore certain of victory.

According to the Tass news agency, the Russian domestic secret service FSB has thwarted an act of sabotage by an agent in the border region of Belgorod. The Russian citizen was preparing an attack on railway infrastructure on behalf of Ukraine, the agency writes.

According to intelligence sources, Ukraine attacked an oil refinery in the Russian region of Kaluga – about 260 kilometers from the Ukrainian border – with drones. The facility was hit and the extent of the damage is being determined. The military intelligence service GUR carried out the attack.

The governor of Kaluga, Vladislav Shapscha, had previously announced on the short message service Telegram that four drones had been shot down in the area of ​​the refinery. No infrastructure was damaged or people were injured.

Ukrainian soldiers are being tortured for months in Russian captivity, according to a UN report. The abuses were “appalling”, systematic and widespread, reported the Ukraine Commission of Inquiry of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. It was said that prisoners of war were regularly severely beaten and tortured with electric shocks, sometimes to the genitals.

Prisoners of war are held in Russia and Ukrainian territory for between 9 and 15 months, according to the report. “The victims’ accounts show that they were brutally and relentlessly inflicted with severe pain and suffering throughout almost the entire period of their imprisonment,” it said.

According to the commission, torture by Russian military personnel and prison officials constitutes war crimes.

In Russia, the domestic secret service FSB says it has arrested a man in Moscow who is said to have built and launched drones for Ukraine. The FSB said the Russian citizen was suspected of treason. He also launched drones in the immediate vicinity of Russian Defense Ministry facilities. An FSB video distributed by the Interfax news agency states that the man worked for the “Legion Freedom for Russia”, a group of armed pro-Ukrainian Russian exiles and Kremlin opponents.

As the Russian state news agency RIA reports, people in the Belgorod region near the border had to leave the polling stations and seek refuge in shelters on the first day of the controversial presidential election in Russia. The Defense Ministry had previously announced that seven Ukrainian missiles had been fired over the region.

As the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram, two people were injured in the attacks.

According to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russian troops prevented a Ukrainian attempt to cross the border. Ukraine attempted to fly military forces into Russia’s Belgorod region by helicopter, the Defense Ministry said.

The Polish ambassador to Germany, Dariusz Pawlos, expects a signal of unity against Russia from the top meeting of the so-called Weimar Triangle. The aim of the meeting between Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin was to “show unity and not disagreement,” said Pawlos ARD morning magazine. It is “a signal that we want to demonstrate that we are united and want to support Ukraine in solidarity.”

Pavlos also expressed hope that Germany would supply Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. He hopes that Chancellor Scholz will “show courage and look for a solution to deliver appropriate systems and ammunition.”

According to authorities, Ukraine was again attacked by Russia with numerous drones during the night. Two people were killed in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia when a residential building was hit. A total of seven regions were affected by the attacks. The Ukrainian Air Force was ultimately able to shoot down all 27 drones.

Politicians from the CDU/CSU and the Greens called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to mend the troubled German-French relationship before his meeting with French head of state Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. “German-French relations have never been in such a bad state as they are today,” said CDU foreign policy expert Armin Laschet to the Augsburger Allgemeine. “The Chancellor’s apparent lack of desire to advance Europe together with France is shocking.”

The Green politician and chairman of the Bundestag European Committee Anton Hofreiter also called on the Chancellor to resolve his differences with Macron. “I expect Chancellor Scholz to use the meeting to bury the sensitivities between him and Macron,” Hofreiter told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “In view of the difficult security situation, the EU must act as one.”

According to its Defense Ministry, Russia has been attacked again from Ukraine. The air defense fired seven rockets over the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine. Russian territory has come under increased attack this week with missiles and drones.

In the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk, three children were killed in Ukrainian shelling of a residential building, according to Russian-appointed authorities there. The residential building was hit directly during the night and a fire broke out, the mayor of the city in eastern Ukraine said via Telegram. He speaks of a barbaric attack. “Three children died – a girl born in 2007, a girl born in 2021 and a boy born in 2014.”

According to the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, authorities evacuated three villages near the border overnight “due to the complicated operational situation.” “About 400 residents of Gory-Podol, Glotovo and Kosinka were taken from their homes with their consent,” Russian news agency Interfax quoted Vyacheslav Gladkov as saying.

Yesterday, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russian troops repelled an attempt by the Ukrainian army to break through the border in the Belgorod border region.

The Federal Government’s Transatlantic Coordinator has called on Germany, France and Poland to cooperate even more closely within NATO than before. “A joint security policy initiative for a robust European pillar of NATO must come from the Weimar Triangle,” said FDP deputy parliamentary group leader Michael Link, who is responsible for international affairs, to the dpa news agency.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz is meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and the new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Berlin today against the backdrop of bilateral differences in Ukraine and security policy with France. It is the first top-level discussion in the so-called Weimar Triangle since June 2023.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj thanked Chancellor Olaf Scholz for Germany’s military aid despite the rejected delivery of “Taurus” cruise missiles. German support is diverse, said Zelenskyj in his evening video message after a telephone conversation with Scholz. A reconstruction conference for Ukraine is also planned in June in Berlin, as has already been held in London, among other places.