Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow attacks UK’s ‘anti-Russian hysteria’; Zelenskiy and Johnson discuss Mariupol situation – live | Russia

A superyacht owned by the sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska appears to have reached the sanctuary of Turkish waters, apparently eliminating the risk of its seizure by western nations seeking to punish allies of Vladimir Putin.

According to Reuters, the 73m (240ft) Clio arrived in a bay near the southwestern Turkish resort of Gocek on Saturday.

Deripaska, founder of Russian aluminium giant Rusal, has been sanctioned by the US, EU and the UK, despite speaking out against the war in Ukraine.

The vessel arrived off the coast of of the Aegean coastal province of Mugla on Saturday, Reuters said, and the Cayman Islands-flagged vessel remains at anchor in a bay off Gocek.

Turkey, which relies heavily on Russian energy imports and tourists, has emerged as a safe haven for Russians fleeing sanctions.

Two superyachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, the former Chelsea FC owner who made a surprise appearance at Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul this month, previously docked in Turkish ports.

Oligarchs tied to the Putin regime have become understandably anxious about protecting their assets in the face of aggressive western sanctions.

On Thursday, German federal police said they had seized the world’s largest superyacht, the £458m ($600m) Dilbar, in Hamburg after determining it was owned by the sister of the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov.

Vladimir Putin “believes he is winning the war” in Ukraine, the Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer has said, in an interview to be aired in the US on Sunday.

Nehammer on Monday became the first western leader to meet with the Russian president since the conflict began in February, claiming he told Putin in their Moscow meeting that he was “losing the war morally” and “all those responsible” for war crimes must be brought to justice.

In excerpts from Nehammer’s interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, which will be broadcast in full on Sunday morning, the Austrian leader said he believed Putin was living “in his own world”.

I think he is now in his own war logic, you know? He thinks the war is necessary for security guarantees for the Russian Federation. He doesn’t trust the international community. He blames Ukrainians for genocides in the Donbas region. So while he is now in his own world, I think he knows what is going on now in Ukraine.

[But] I think he believes he is winning the war.

Zehammer was asked by Meet the Press host Chuck Todd about Putin’s reaction to the war crime allegations.

He told me that he will cooperate with an international investigation, on one hand, and on the other hand, he told me that he doesn’t trust the western world. So this will be the problem now in the future.

I think international trust [in] the United Nations, an international investigation, is necessary. So it was a tough discussion between each other. But I tried to convince him that, for example, the former Yugoslavian war showed us that international investigation is useful to prosecute the war criminals.

You can see excerpts of Zehammer’s NBC interview here.

And read more about his trip to Moscow to see Putin here:

Russia is claiming that all urban areas of Mariupol, the besieged port city that has been subjected to some of the fiercest aggression of the war so far, have been cleared of Ukrainian forces, Reuters reports.

In a bulletin issued Saturday evening, the Russia defence ministry said its forces had also blockaded a few fighters in the Azovstal steelworks.

Defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said in a statement that as of today, Ukrainian forces in Mariupol had lost more than 4,000 fighters, and another 1,464 had surrendered.

The entire urban area of Mariupol has been completely cleared. Remnants of the Ukrainian group are currently completely blockaded on the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant.

Their only chance to save their lives is to voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender.

There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the statement.

Moscow said the total number of what it called “irretrievable losses” suffered by Ukraine totaled 23,367 people but did not provide any evidence and did not say whether this included only those who had died or who had also been injured.

The Ukraine president Voldymyr Zelenskiy has said his country’s total military losses since the conflict began in February total “up to 3,000 troops.” There is no way to independently verify the competing claims.

Read more here:

The number of people evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors dropped significantly on Saturday from the day before, Reuters reported.

On Saturday, a total of 1,449 people were evacuated, fewer than the 2,864 who escaped on Friday, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, said in an online post, according to the news agency.

Ukraine briefly closed the humanitarian corridors in midweek, fearing Russian attacks on fleeing civilians.

Boris Johnson spoke with the Ukraine president Volydymyr Zelenskiy by phone on Saturday afternoon, and heard an update about the Russian onslaught on Mariupol, the Press Association is reporting.

According to a Downing Street spokesperson:

The prime minister paid tribute to the bravery of Ukrainian forces who continue to valiantly defend their country’s freedom.

President Zelenskiy updated the prime minister on the situation in Mariupol, and the prime minister said he saluted Ukrainian resistance in the city.

The pair discussed the need for a long-term security solution for Ukraine, and the prime minister said he would continue to work closely with allies and partners to ensure Ukraine could defend its sovereignty in the weeks and months to come.

The prime minister updated President Zelenskiy on new sanctions from the UK that came into force last week, and said the UK would continue to provide the means for Ukraine to defend itself, including armoured vehicles in the coming days.

The prime minister said international support for Ukraine only grew stronger and that he remained convinced Ukraine would succeed and Putin would fail.

This is Richard Luscombe in the US taking over the blog for the next few hours. My Guardian colleague Pjotr Sauer has just tweeted these first video images of rescued members of the Moskva crew in the Crimean Black Sea port of Sevastopol.

Russia’s Black Sea flagship missile cruiser sank on Friday while being towed to port after an explosion caused by an unexplained fire, the Russian defence ministry has said, after Ukraine said it had hit the ship with a missile or missiles.

Here’s a reminder of the warship’s fate:

The head of the Russian navy, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, has met with crew members from the sunken missile cruiser Moskva and said they would continue to serve in the navy, Tass news agency said.

Russia said on Thursday the Moskva had sunk after an ammunition explosion.

Ukraine said it hit the vessel, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, with a missile.

As Russia’s war nears its third month with no end in sight, the hurried decisions that many Russians made to flee have hit the hard realities of emigration abroad, particularly at a time of closed borders and banking sanctions. While many Russians have left for ever, others have been drawn back to care for ailing parents, manage businesses, keep their families together or simply to make ends meet.

A 102-year-old man who raised thousands of pounds for Covid-19 relief during the pandemic has held a minute’s silence at his home alongside refugees from Ukraine.

Dabirul Islam Choudhury, who was awarded an OBE for raising 420,000 after Captain Sir Tom Moore inspired him to walk laps of his garden in Bow, east London while fasting for Ramadan, welcomed Ukrainian refugees to his home on Saturday.

Choudhury, who is fasting again, led 102 seconds of silence in the garden to support Ukrainian refugees and raise money for the charitable initiative Ramadan Family Commitment.

People from countries all over the world, including Bangladesh, Canada, India, Pakistan and Turkey tuned in to the live stream to take part in the event.

Choudhury and members of his community then spoke to refugees about the war in Ukraine in the garden.

In the besieged port of Mariupol, Russian troops pressed their advances, hoping to make up for their failure to capture Kyiv by seizing their first big prize of the war, Reuters reports.

“The situation is very difficult” in Mariupol, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Ukrainska Pravda news portal.

“Our soldiers are blocked, the wounded are blocked. There is a humanitarian crisis…Nevertheless, the guys are defending themselves.”

A group of local musicians who formed a street orchestra to boost spirits in Ukraine performed for passers-by in Dnipro.

 

Responding to Saturday’s announcement by the Russian foreign ministry, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Putin is a war criminal and I will not shy away from condemning him and his regime.

“Scotland is determined to take the strongest possible action to isolate and penalise his regime, and do everything possible to support the people of Ukraine.

We must make sure that those on the side of freedom and democracy work together to ensure Putin’s regime, and his network of oligarchs, are as isolated as possible.

“International condemnation – not just in words but in actions – against Russia must be as strong as possible.

“It falls to every leader to choose a side in this unprovoked aggression. I am clear that I stand with Ukraine and against Putin. And Scotland is clear – we all stand with Ukraine.”