Russia-Ukraine war live: Russian shipyard in Crimea targeted by Ukrainian missiles

A rift has emerged in Ukraine’s leadership, the New York Times is reporting, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s Office on Saturday chastising Ukraine’s top military commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

General Zaluzhnyi said, in the Economist, that the war was at a stalemate – with Zelenskiy’s Office saying the comments could help Russia.

More from the Times here:

It was a striking public rebuke that signaled an emerging rift between the military and civilian leadership at an already challenging time for Ukraine.

Speaking on national television, a deputy head of the office of the president, Ihor Zhovkva, said Gen. Valery Zaluzhnyi’s assertion that the fight against Russia was deadlocked “eases the work of the aggressor,” adding that the comments stirred “panic” among Ukraine’s Western allies.

At the same time, Mr. Zelensky disputed the general’s characterization of the fighting. “Time has passed, people are tired, regardless of their status, and this is understandable,” he said at a news conference on Saturday, adding: “But this is not a stalemate, I emphasize this once again.”

The public censure of General Zaluzhnyi came a day after the president’s office replaced one of his deputies, the head of special operations forces, who after his firing said he had been blindsided by the dismissal. It was unclear whether General Zaluzhnyi, the overall commander of Ukraine’s forces, knew in advance of the planned dismissal.

The emerging fissure between the general and the president comes as Ukraine is struggling in its war effort, militarily and diplomatically. Its operations along the roughly 600-mile-long trench line have failed to produce any advances, while resulting in high casualties on both sides, and Ukraine is facing intensified Russian attacks in the East.

At the same time, skepticism about Ukraine aid has increased in some European capitals and among members of the Republican Party in the United States. Ukraine’s leadership is also worried that the attention of Western allies has shifted to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and away from its war with Russia.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova, voters go to polls today for mayoral elections – with the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, accusing Russia of election meddling.

Moldova, an ex-Soviet state, is eager to join the European Union and leave Russia’s orbit. Reuters has more details on today’s elections.

Pro-European president Maia Sandu has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accused Moscow of plotting to oust her in a coup. This week, she accused Russia of “buying” voters by funneling $5m to “criminal groups” led by fugitive businessman Ilan Shor in the last two months.

The election to pick 12,000 officials pits dozens of parties against each other, including Sandu’s ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and the pro-Russian Revival party linked to Shor, who has been convicted in absentia for fraud.

On Friday, the Chance party, also associated with Shor, was barred from the vote on security grounds.

The national security service has accused Shor of helping funnel 1bn Moldovan lei ($55.60m) into Moldova to stage anti-government protests during the war in Ukraine and to “buy” voters.

The Kyiv Independent is reporting that Ukrainian forces have destroyed a Russian “Pole-21” electronic warfare system, citing Ukrainian general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of the Tavria Group fighting on the southern frontlines.

Tarnavskyi said the system was “designed to suppress satellite navigation channels” but did not provide further details.

For a war in which drones play a key role – not just in terms of reconnaissance for identifying enemy positions, but also as methods of attack themselves – electronic warfare is crucial for gaining the upper hand.

Since the start of Russia’s largescale invasion last year, more than 20,000 people in Ukraine have lost limbs. AP has a piece on how some of them are coping with psychological trauma through Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Nervous ahead of their first jiu-jitsu championship, the war veterans gathered in a group to share jokes and help each other tie the belts of their kimonos. Many of them had suffered severe battlefield injuries requiring amputations.

Now they were assembled to perform in the “para jiu jitsu” category at the Ukrainian national competition before hundreds of spectators on amphitheater-style benches in one of Kyiv’s sports complexes.

More than 20,000 people in Ukraine have lost limbs because of injuries since the start of Russia’s brutal war there, many of them soldiers. A handful of them have dealt with their psychological trauma by practicing a form of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

“This gives us freedom. We don’t feel like we’re lacking anything,” said Artem Kuzmich, who started practicing jiu-jitsu classes after losing a leg on the battlefield in 2019.

You can read the full story here.

Russia said on Sunday it had test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads from one of its submarines, AFP reports.

“The new nuclear-powered strategic missile submarine cruiser Emperor Alexander the Third has successfully launched the Bulava sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile,” the defence ministry said.

President Vladimir Putin attracted global criticism earlier this week when he revoked Russia’s ratification of the 1996 comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty.

“Some go to Crimea; I prefer Krynky.” For the Ukrainian humorist Ostap Vishnia, Crimea could keep its beaches and boulevards. Krynky, the village he favoured, is a rather less fashionable handful of houses interspersed with fruit trees on the east bank of the Dnipro, 70 miles north of Crimea.

These days, travel to Krynky is somewhat more fraught than it was for Vishnia. The Dnipro marks the frontline of the war with Russia in southern Ukraine. The two armies trade relentless artillery fire across the river. Ukraine controls the west bank. Russia controls the east. Or it did until two weeks ago, when a contingent of Ukrainian marines made land and seized positions along the waterfront. They fought their way into Krynky.

The marines’ prospects for holding their beachhead – let alone finding a way to bring over the armoured vehicles and heavy weapons that would be needed to push forward – looked slim. The Russians pummelled them from the air and mounted infantry counterattacks.

But the latest reports from Russian military bloggers say the Ukrainians are standing firm. They have even managed to resupply the units on the east bank via islands in the Dnipro.

“The situation in Krynky remains tense,” said a usually reliable Russian blogger called Rybar on Saturday night. The marines hold the centre of the settlement. “Despite the efforts of the Russian armed forces,” Rybar said, “it was not possible to clear the village.”

None of the security sources I’ve spoken to are predicting an imminent Ukrainian advance through the rest of the occupied Kherson region that lies beyond Krynky. The marines may yet be overrun. But the Russian failure to dislodge them so far has prompted fresh mutterings on Russian military channels about poor coordination and communication at the front. The latest Ukrainian visitors to Krynky might yet stay a little longer.

Hello, welcome to our continuing coverage Ukraine’s war against Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine targeted a Russian shipyard in the Crimean city of Kerch with 15 cruise missiles. Saturday’s attack damaged one ship, according to Russia’s defence ministry.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s increased ability to strike warships and diminish Russian surveillance options in the Black Sea had undermined Moscow’s war efforts and helped Ukraine to secure a shipping route to export its grain.

More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reaffirmed his stance that this is not the time to negotiate with Russia, and he also denied that any western leaders were pressuring him to do so. Zelenskiy also rejected remarks by his own commander-in-chief that the war had reached a stalemate.

• Talks are under way to outline what Ukraine might have to give up to secure a peace deal with Russia, US news channel NBC reported earlier, citing a senior US official and another former senior official who briefed the network about the tentative plans.

• The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Kyiv on Saturday ahead of a report the EU is expected to present next week about Ukraine’s progress in its membership bid. She said the EU would stand by Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and that the country had made “excellent progress” towards EU accession.

• Russian forces are now focused on capturing Avdiivka’s coking plant, according to the town’s mayor, Vitaliy Barabash. He said audio transmission intercepts had revealed that Moscow was seeking to secure it. UK intelligence suggests Russia has incurred heavy losses in its assault on the Donbas town.

• Ukraine said it has filed criminal charges against Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox church, in absentia, for “justifying” Russia’s invasion. Moscow’s most influential spiritual leader, a fervent supporter of President Vladimir Putin, has called the war a historic battle against the “forces of evil”.

• Zelenskiy appointed a new commander of the country’s special forces, a unit known for conducting military operations in Moscow-held territories, but the officer replaced in the shuffle said he had not been told why.

• Ukraine’s newly appointed head of the defence industry says he is working tirelessly to increase local arms production and wants to turn the country into a weapons production hub for the west.

Ukraine rained 15 cruise missiles on Russia’s shipyard in the Crimean port city of Kerch on Saturday, damaging one ship, Russia’s defence ministry said, in an attack that could further undermine Moscow’s striking capabilities.

Thirteen of the missiles were destroyed in the air, while one hit a ship, the ministry said. It did not give the vessel’s name.

Ukraine’s top air force commander said one of the Russian navy’s most modern ships was stationed there.

“I hope another ship has followed the Moskva!” Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Ukraine’s air force, said in a Telegram post, referring to the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship sunk by Ukrainian missiles on 14 April 2022.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, said there were no casualties in the Saturday attack on the shipyard in Kerch in Crimea.