Putin’s troops also bombed areas around Kyiv and Chernihiv shortly after promising to reduce military operations to help boost confidence in peace talks, Ukrainian officials said. Elsewhere, it turned out that Roman Abramovich asked “are we dying?” after he and two Ukrainian officials were targeted for suspected poisoning in peace talks. Read below the main developments from this afternoon and follow the latest updates on our liveblog here.
1. Russia strikes the Red Cross building in Mariupol
Russian strikes have targeted a Red Cross facility in the devastated southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner said on Wednesday. He said the building, which was marked with a red cross on a white background, had been targeted by airstrikes and artillery. A Red Cross spokeswoman said a warehouse had been hit. It is not yet confirmed if anyone was killed or injured in the attack.
2. The bombing challenges Russia’s de-escalation
Ukraine has accused Russia of bombing a city promising de-escalation, dampening hopes for a solution to a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions. Ukraine and Western powers had already challenged Russia’s commitment to reduce military activity around Chernihiv and Kyiv during face-to-face talks in Istanbul on Tuesday. “Chernihiv has been bombed all night,” Regional Governor Vyacheslav Chaus wrote on social media. Russian officials have pledged to “radically” reduce their attacks on progress in Ukraine’s “neutrality and non-nuclear status” talks – two key concerns for Moscow.
3. Putin feels “misled”, claims the head of the Western intelligence services
Vladimir Putin feels “misled by the Russian army” and has lost faith in his top officials, a Western intelligence official has revealed. The Russian president is being misinformed about how badly the military campaign in Ukraine is going, because his advisers are “very afraid to tell him the truth,” a US official said. Recently declassified information, first reported by CNN, found that Putin “did not even know that his army was using and losing conscripts … showing a clear analysis of the flow of accurate information.”
