Russia-Ukraine war live: drone strikes hit infrastructure facility in Odesa region causing fire | Russia

Wagner mercenary admits ‘tossing grenades’ at injured Ukrainian PoWs

Pjotr Sauer

A former Wagner mercenary has admitted to killing and torturing dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war, in one of the most detailed first-person accounts of atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Alexey Savichev, 49, a former Russian convict recruited by Wagner last September, told the Guardian in a telephone interview that he participated in summary executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war during his six months of fighting in eastern Ukraine.

“We were told not to take any prisoners, and just shoot them on the spot,” he said.

In one instance, while fighting near the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar last autumn, Savichev said he participated in the killings of 20 Ukrainian soldiers who were surrounded. “We sprayed them with our bullets,” he said. “It is war and I do not regret a single thing I did there. If I could, I would go back.”

Savichev said that in another episode, with other Wagner fighters he had killed “several dozen” injured Ukrainian prisoners of war by “tossing grenades” into the ditch where they were held near the city Bakhmut in January. “We would torture soldiers too, there weren’t any rules,” he said.

South Korea might extend its support for Ukraine beyond humanitarian and economic aid if it comes under a large-scale civilian attack, President Yoon Suk Yeol said, signalling a shift in his stance against arming Ukraine for the first time.

In an interview with Reuters ahead of his state visit to the US next week, Yoon said his government has been exploring how to help defend and rebuild Ukraine, just as South Korea received international assistance during the 1950-53 Korean war.

“If there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war, it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support,” Yoon said.

It was the first time that Seoul suggested a willingness to provide weapons to Ukraine, more than a year after ruling out the possibility of lethal aid.

A key US ally and major producer of artillery ammunition, South Korea has so far tried to avoid antagonising Russia due to its companies operating there and Moscow’s influence over North Korea, despite mounting pressure from western countries for weapons supply.

“I believe there won’t be limitations to the extent of the support to defend and restore a country that’s been illegally invaded both under international and domestic law,” Yoon said. “However, considering our relationship with the parties engaged in the war and developments in the battlefield, we will take the most appropriate measures.”

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has condemned the “violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity” by Russia and again called for mediation to end the war, as he came under fire for his previous comments on the conflict.

Speaking at a lunch on Tuesday with Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, Lula said a group of neutral nations must come together to help broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Lula faced criticism from the US over comments he made over the weekend that they were prolonging the fighting by supplying arms to Ukraine.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine’s government also criticised Lula for his efforts to broker a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow, and invited the Brazilian leader to visit the war-torn country and see for himself the consequences of the Russian invasion:

Russian drones struck Ukraine’s southern Odesa region overnight and caused a fire at an infrastructure facility, the head of the military command of the Odesa region, Yuri Kruk, said on Wednesday.

No casualties have been reported and firefighters were working at the scene, he said.

Flash news has these photos from the strikes – they have not been independently verified by the Guardian.

Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.

Our top story this morning: Russian drones struck Ukraine’s southern Odesa region overnight and caused a fire at an infrastructure facility, the head of the military command of the Odesa region, Yuri Kruk, said on Wednesday. No casualties have been reported and firefighters were working at the scene, he said.

Here are the other key recent developments:

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, visited Ukrainian troops on Tuesday in Avdiivka, Donetsk region, his office have said. Zelenskiy listened to commanders’ reports on the battlefield situation and gave awards to soldiers, it said.

• Zelenskiy and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy held a phone call on Tuesday in which they discussed Ukraine’s need for weapons as well as increasing sanctions pressure on Russia. On Twitter, Zelenskiy said he thanked McCarthy for bipartisan support in Congress for Ukraine.

• A Moscow court rejected an appeal from US journalist Evan Gershkovich to be freed from pre-trial detention, meaning he will stay in a former KGB prison until at least 29 May while a spying case against him is investigated. Gershkovich denies the espionage charges.

• The G7 has criticised Russia’s threat to station nuclear weapons in Belarus, promising to intensify sanctions on Moscow for its war on neighbouring Ukraine. Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Tuesday, the state-run Belta news agency reported.

• Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will discuss the Black Sea grain export deal with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in New York next week, just weeks before the pact could expire unless Russian demands regarding its own exports are met.

• Poland has said that it has reached an agreement on restarting transit of Ukrainian grains through its territory as of Friday, according to Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus.

• Poland also announced plans to install thousands of cameras and motion sensors along its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave to prevent what Warsaw says are illegal migrant crossings orchestrated by Moscow. Polish interior minister Mariusz Kaminski said the system would join a barbed wire fence being built on the 200-kilometre frontier.

• Russian forces are stepping up their use of heavy artillery and airstrikes in Bakhmut, the commander of Kyiv’s ground forces said on Tuesday. Russia is suffering significant losses in the battle, he said.

• A Russian artillery attack killed one person and injured nine more in Kherson, regional officials said. Officials said a market in the city centre had been hit.

• The maker of Sweden’s Absolut vodka has said it is ceasing all exports to Russia after calls to boycott the brand flared up in Sweden and on social media, Agence France-Presse reported.

• Security concerns have prompted Russian authorities this year to cancel traditional nationwide victory day processions where people carry portraits of relatives who fought against Nazi Germany in the second world war, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.

• Russia is “not yet” planning to block Wikipedia, its minister of digital affairs said on Tuesday as a Moscow court handed the online encyclopedia another fine for failing to remove content Russia deems illegal.