Ukraine-Russia war latest: Heavy fighting around key eastern cities; Russia 'sustaining nearly 900 casualties per day'

The Group of Seven nations is discussing a proposal to send up to $50bn (£39.9bn) in aid to Ukraine, reports say.

The US has proposed the money is repaid with the windfall profits from Russian assets frozen in Europe, according to Bloomberg.

America is pushing other G7 leaders - the heads of the UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, France and Japan - to agree on the plan when they meet in June.

But discussions have been difficult and an agreement could take months, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the proposal.

The move comes after Washington approved a major assistance package worth $61bn last month, which had been delayed for months by Republicans in the House of Representatives.

It will likely take weeks until US military assistance arrives on the frontline at scale, according to an American thinktank.

The Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces will take advantage of the lag to try and make "operationally significant gains in key sectors", such as near Chasiv Yar and Avdiivka.

But should these gains be made, they will not signal the collapse the Ukraine's defences, said the ISW.

Earlier today, we reported how heavy fighting was taking place in villages near Avdiivka and Bakhmut, as well as Chasiv Yar, to Bakhmut's west.

A senior Ukrainian intelligence chief said it is "probably a matter of time" before Chasiv Yar falls. 

Ukraine received artillery shells, missiles and anti-armour rockets on 28 and 29 April in the first instalments of America's newly approved $61bn  tranche of aid, the New York Times reported.

Citing a senior Spanish official, the news outlet said a Patriot interceptor missiles arrived in Poland en route to Ukraine on Tuesday.

Russia has put Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a wanted list, Russian state media reports.

Moscow has opened a criminal case against the Ukrainian president, according to Tass news agency.

It cited the Russian interior ministry's database, but gave no further details.

Russia has issued arrest warrants for a number of Ukrainian and other European politicians since the start of the war.

Russian police put Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania's culture minister and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments. 

Russia also issued an arrest warrant for the International Criminal Court prosecutor who last year prepared a warrant for Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges.

Another attack has been reported in Kharkiv, following drone strikes overnight.

The region's governor said Russian troops shelled the area, leaving a 74-year-old woman injured and in need of hospitalisation. 

"As a result of five strikes, two two-story apartment buildings, one private house and networks were damaged," Oleg Synegubov said. 

A private house was also struck. 

Around $498,000 (£396,000) in funds meant for the reconstruction of a heavily damaged Kyiv suburb has "disappeared," Ukraine's State Audit Service has said. 

Borodianka, once a town of 12,000 people, suffered massive destruction in the early weeks of Russia's invasion.

Money has been directed at the suburb for its reconstruction since, but an audit of the town council found a large discrepancy related to plastic-metal windows, which were noted down for installation but never actually put in.

More losses were found when the auditors found that some materials had been purchased and installed at higher rates that the market price. 

Earlier, we reported on heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine, centred in the Donetsk region (see 7.48am post). 

Now, we can bring you images from one town which has seen extensive frontline exchanges - Ocheretyne. 

Ocheretyne is about 25km from Avdiivka, and has been fiercely contested by advancing Russian forces and defending Ukrainian servicemen. 

By Sean Bell, military analyst

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron was in Kyiv this week to reiterate UK support to Ukraine.  

Meeting with President Zelenskyy, Lord Cameron detailed how the uplift in defence spending announced by Rishi Sunak last week, including £3bn multi-year funding for Ukraine and the largest ever donation of military equipment, would help ensure Ukraine has what it needs to win.  

The donation of military equipment would include the provision of precision-guided bombs, and air defence missiles and equipment for 100 mobile air defence teams to enable Ukraine to shoot down Russia's drones and missiles.

However, Lord Cameron also made an important announcement that was less widely reported - that it was up to Kyiv to decide how these weapons were to be used.  

Although the West was shocked at Russia's decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine is not a member of NATO and the West was reluctant to provide overt support to Ukraine for fear of precipitating a direct NATO confrontation with Russia.  

However, the UK has consistently been "forward-leaning" in providing military support to Ukraine, initially through the provision of anti-tank weapons, then main battle tanks - Challenger II - before more recently providing long-range Storm Shadow missiles.  

Although the US has also provided ATACMS missiles, it has consistently advised that Ukraine is not to use any Western-provided weapons to attack targets on Russian soil.

Lord Cameron's announcement that this limitation may have been lifted for UK-supplied weapons could be evidence of increasing Western concern over the current tide of the war.  

Russia's military is on the offensive on the frontline - where it is capitalising on Ukraine's current shortage of vital weapons and ammunition to push forward.  

If these tactical advances were to translate into a major Russian breakthrough later this summer, the prospects for Ukraine could be bleak.

The UK package of weapons also included precision-guided bombs - these are air-launched, have limited range, so appear to have limited utility to Ukraine, so why have they been offered?

One reason is that the UK weapons lockers are bare - supplies that Britain is prepared to offer have run dry, and although the UK government has placed the national defence industry onto a "war footing", it will still take time before sustainable and significant supplies of weapons start to flow.  

However, if Ukraine is to reverse the current Russian battlefield momentum, it needs to explore new ways to fight back. 

Permission to attack inside Russia itself should enable Ukraine to expand its target list.  

Although the Ukrainian fighters do not have the requisite clearances and capability to deliver Western precision-guided bombs, in desperate times such clearances can be secured in record time. 

But how could they be used?

The Russians have air superiority over the frontlines, and it would be both dangerous and difficult for the Ukrainian air forces to intervene decisively - even with new weapons. 

However, if the initial batch of F-16 fighters being donated by the West were to arrive early this summer, this could provide more choices for Ukraine.  

Indeed, that might include targeting Russian forces in Crimea, or conducting airstrikes against military targets - such as logistics supply lines - inside Russian territory.

Although this latest announcement might have limited direct impact on Russian momentum on the frontline, it has the potential to offer new options to Ukraine to change the tide of the war.  

And, recent history suggests that where the UK leads, other nations soon follow.

However, the "elephant in the room" is the strength of Western resolve to stop Russia's brutal invasion.  

Time is not on Ukraine's side.  

Western reticence to confront Russia is understandable - indeed, President Putin is relying on it.  

But appeasement has not proven historically to be a credible strategy.  

NATO's continuing military exercises near Russia's borders are proof that the alliance is preparing for a war with Moscow, a spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry has said. 

"According to their scenario, coalition's actions against Russia are being practiced using all the instruments, including hybrid and conventional weapons," Maria Zakharova said. 

"We have to admit that NATO is seriously preparing for a 'potential conflict' with us."

Named Steadfast Defender, one of NATO's biggest military drills since the Cold War allows members to practice repelling an invasion by Russian forces.

The next phase of the four-month drill takes place throughout May and will include some 90,000 NATO servicemen. 

A Russian suspected cybercrime kingpin has pleaded partially guilty to money laundering charges in the US, Russian state media is reporting. 

TASS cited Alexander Vinnik's lawyer as saying that, as a result of the plea bargain, he now expected him to get a prison term of less than 10 years.

"He pleaded guilty on a restricted number of charges," his lawyer reportedly said. 

"The culmination of the negotiations was a deal with the prosecutor's office. We expect that the prison term will be up to 10 years."

Vinnik is accused of laundering more than $4bn through the digital currency bitcoin, and was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the US, although Moscow has repeatedly demanded he be returned to Russia. 

The US Department of Justice has said Vinnik "allegedly owned, operated, and administrated BTC-e, a significant cybercrime and online money laundering entity that allowed its users to trade in bitcoin with high levels of anonymity and developed a customer base heavily reliant on criminal activity". 

The maximum penalty for the charges against Vinnik is
55 years in prison.

Just under 900 Russian soldiers are killed or wounded in Ukraine every single day, the UK's Ministry of Defence has said. 

"It is likely that Russia's casualty rate will again increase over the next two months as they renew dedicated offensive operations in easter Ukraine," it said in an intelligence update.

"This follows a slight decrease in the pace of operations over the past two months since the fall of Avdiivka," it added. 

The MoD assessed that more than 465,000 Russian losses have recorded since the beginning of the war, with an average so far this year of 899 casualties per day.