Deadly explosion rips through spy agency building in Russia

At least one person was killed and two were injured in an explosion that caused a fire at an FSB Border Service Department building in Russia, local authorities said.

The security service building is in the port city of Rostov-on-Don, near the Ukrainian border in the southeast of Russia.

Local residents heard an explosion and then black smoke started pouring out of the building, according to local media reports.

“Emergency services were dispatched… details are being clarified,” the press office of the emergency services in Rostov-on-Don said in comments carried by the state-run TASS news agency.

It is not yet clear what caused the explosion.

There have been several incidents of reported sabotage attributed to Ukrainian partisans within Russian territory since the Kremlin deployed troops to Ukraine in February last year.

12:34 PM

Ukraine to get more fighter jets ‘in coming days’

Ukraine will get extra fighter jets “in the coming days”, according to Poland.

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday said the EU member would deliver an initial batch of four Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine soon.

“Firstly, literally within the next few days, we will hand over, as far as I remember, four aircraft to Ukraine in full working order,” Mr Duda told a news conference. “The rest are being prepared, serviced.”

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has been pleading for the West to send advanced aircraft to supplement the Ukrainian air force, which is currently largely relying on Soviet-era MiG-29s.

12:13 PM

Russia facing a sanctions ‘war’ with the West: Putin

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russia’s billionaires and business elite to invest in new technology, production facilities and enterprises to help Russia overcome what he said were Western attempts to destroy its economy.

He told the business leaders that Russia was facing a “sanctions war” but was swiftly reorienting its economy towards countries that had not imposed sanctions on Russia, and thanked them for working to help the Russian state.

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Putin also said Russia had so far defied those attempts, and that the Western firms that had decided to stay in Russia rather than flee in a corporate exodus last year had made a smart decision.

He was meeting with Russia’s leading billionaires in person for the first time since Feb. 24 last year, the day he launched what he called his “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Billionaires Oleg Deripaska, Vladimir Potanin, Alexei Mordashov, German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg, Viktor Rashnikov, Andrei Melnichenko and Dmitry Mazepin – whose interests range from metals and banking to fertilisers – were among those attending on Thursday, according to images from the gathering.

11:52 AM

Zelensky marks one year since bombing of Mariupol theatre

Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a note on Telegram to commemorate a year since the Mariupol theatre bombing.

“A year ago, Russia deliberately and brutally dropped a powerful bomb on the Drama Theatre in Mariupol. Next to the building was the inscription ‘Children’, which was impossible to overlook.

“Hundreds of people were hiding from the shelling there.

“Step by step, we are moving towards ensuring that the terrorist state is fully held to account for what it has done to our country and our people.”

Read our dispatch from the site of the attack here. 

11:48 AM

Finland not a threat to Russia: Kremlin

The Kremlin said Thursday that Russia was not a threat to Finland, ahead of the Finnish president’s visit to Turkey, which is expected to approve Helsinki’s NATO bid.

“We have many times expressed regret over Finland and Sweden’s move toward membership and said many times that Russia does not pose a threat to these countries,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“We do not have any dispute with these countries… They have never posed any threat to us and, logically, we did not threaten them,” Mr Peskov said.

Finland and Sweden dropped decades-long policies of military non-alignment and applied to join the western alliance last May in the wake of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

Turkey and Hungary are the only countries that have yet to ratify the countries’ applications, which must be accepted by all 30 existing members of the alliance.

11:03 AM

Best way to protect Moldova is to protect Ukraine: Cleverly

The best way to defend Moldova from attack by Russia is to protect Ukraine, Britain’s foreign minister said on Thursday, though he declined to commit to sending arms directly.

Asked by reporters whether London planned military support to Moldova, James Cleverly said: “We strongly believe that one of the best ways of protecting Moldova from physical attack is helping the Ukrainians defend themselves against Russia.”

He was speaking on a visit to the eastern European country, where he announced £10 million of British aid for economic and governance reforms, including in the energy sector.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Moldova’s pro-Western government and its allies have feared it could be dragged into the conflict.

A leaked Kremlin document showed that Russia plans to effectively take control of the country by the end of the decade.

The nation of 2.5 million people borders Ukraine and has Russian peacekeepers stationed in the pro-Moscow breakaway Transdniestria region.

In recent months, Russian missiles aimed at Ukraine have entered Moldovan airspace while authorities have blamed the Kremlin for fuelling anti-government protests, which it denies.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu also accused Moscow in February of planning a coup to overthrow the government.

10:21 AM

One year ago today – Russia bombed the Mariupol theatre

At around 10:00am on 16 March, 2022, Russian warplanes dropped two 500kg bombs on Mariupol’s theatre, despite clear indications that civilians were sheltering in there.

People had been using the building as a refuge from the relentless siege of the southern city and a large sign saying “children” had been daubed in Russian at the front and back of the theatre.

Some 1,200 people were inside the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre when the bombs struck.

Ukrainian authorities believe 300 people were killed but an AP investigation said the number was closer to 600. Many of the bodies were found in the basement.

The attack has been condemned as a clear war crime.

Since then, occupying Russian forces in the city have begun to demolish the theatre and rebuild it.

The city’s exiled Ukrainian mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, said the Russians were planning to leave the front of the theatre intact and destroy the rest of the structure, to build a new theatre “on the bones of Mariupol’s people”.

Earlier this year, The Telegraph visited the site of the theatre and found fabric-covered scaffolding hiding what remains of what was once the city’s architectural centrepiece until it became a “big mass grave”.

09:35 AM

Germany pledges to help Ukraine get more ammo quickly

Ukraine must be given more ammunition as soon as possible in order to resist Russia’s invasion, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday, as he pledged quick EU action.

“It is very important that we quickly supply Ukraine with the necessary munitions,” Mr Scholz told the lower house of parliament, promising action at a summit in Brussels next week.

He said member states would “pass measures to ensure even better, continuous supplies”.

“And we are prepared to open up our procurement projects to other member states as well,” he said.

Ukraine’s Western backers warn that Kyiv is facing a critical shortage of howitzer shells as it fires thousands each day in its fight against a grinding Russian offensive.

Kyiv has told the EU it needs 350,000 shells a month to help fight back the Russian assault and allow it to launch its own counter-offensives.

EU countries are currently wrangling over details like who would be responsible for placing the orders and whether they can only buy from European producers.

09:24 AM

Poland dismantles Russian spy ring that had placed hidden cameras on railway routes

Polish counterintelligence has dismantled a Russian spy ring, Poland’s defence minister said on Thursday.

“The whole network has been dismantled,” Mariusz Blaszczak told Polish public radio PR1. “It was an espionage group… collecting information for those who attacked Ukraine.”

“The threat was real,” he added, without giving further details.

Poland’s interior minister is due to hold a press conference on the alleged spy ring operation at 11 am local time.

Private Polish radio station RMF, citing unnamed sources, said Wednesday that the ABW, Poland’s counter-espionage service, had arrested six foreigners working for the Russian secret service and allegedly preparing for sabotage in Poland.

The suspects were reportedly arrested after the discovery of hidden cameras, which were placed on important railway routes and junctions, recording and transmitting data on traffic.

According to RMF, “dozens of devices” of this type were installed, mainly on sections of railways leading to the country’s southeast, including near an airport that is one of the main transfer points for Ukraine-bound Western weapons and ammunition.

Authorities are now on high alert and the security of railroads and strategic infrastructure has been reinforced, according to RMF.

08:09 AM

Russia loses almost 1,000 men for each kilometre gained in Bakhmut

Ian Stubbs, a British military advisor, said Russia had lost between 20,000 and 30,000 troops in the attempt to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Speaking at the OSCE in Vienna, he said Russian military leaders had sacrificed military units, mainly mercenaries from the Wagner Group, and squandered strategic resources for small tactical gains.

“Over the past week, we have seen intensive combat as Russia continues its grinding offensive in the Donbas. Russia is suffering extremely heavy casualty rates. Since May last year, between 20 – 30,000 Wagner and regular Russian forces have been killed and wounded in the area around Bakhmut alone – a huge loss of human life for a total territorial advance of approximately just 25km,” Mr Stubbs said.

“That is over 800 Russian personnel killed or wounded for each kilometre gained, the vast majority of them Wagner fighters.”