The White House said the US had evidence the war against Ukraine was “a strategic disaster”. for Russia. “We have seen indisputable evidence that this was a strategic disaster for Russia,” said communications director Kate Bedingfield, adding that Russia “is working to redefine the original goals of its invasion.”
US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘seems himself isolated’ and noted “there is evidence that he fired or placed some of his advisers under house arrest” without citing any evidence.
Russia has threatened to halt contracts that supply Europe with a third of its gas if not paid for in Russian currency. Putin signed a decree on Thursday requiring foreign buyers to pay for Russian gas in rubles from Friday. He said contracts would be stopped if those payments were not made. Germany and France rejected the demands, calling them “blackmail”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his warning that Russia was preparing “powerful strikes” in the Donbass region after apparently withdrawing from an attack on Kyiv. The Pentagon also said Russia may be repositioning some of its forces to send to Donbass.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russian forces would not withdraw but would regroup. He also said that the alliance has yet to be convinced that Russia is negotiating peace talks in Istanbul in good faith, since Moscow’s military objectives have not changed since it began invading Ukraine.
Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine were set to resume online on Friday morning.
Russia is moving parts of its armed forces out of Georgia to intensify its invasion, British military intelligence said on Thursday. “It is highly unlikely that Russia planned to generate reinforcements in this way and it points to the unexpected casualties it suffered during the invasion,” the ministry added.
A humanitarian corridor is scheduled to open from 10am on Friday morning to allow civilians to exit the besieged port city of Mariupol in Donbass, southeastern Ukraine. It follows “a personal request from the French President and German Chancellor to Russian President Vladimir Putin,” it said.
A convoy of Ukrainian buses left for Mariupol to try to deliver humanitarian supplies and extract trapped civilians, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister said.
EU and Chinese leaders will meet on Friday for a first summit in two years, with Brussels heeding assurances from Beijing that it will not supply Russia with arms or help Moscow bypass Western sanctions. EU officials close to the summit preparations said any aid to Russia would damage China’s international reputation and jeopardize ties with its biggest trading partners – Europe and the United States.
Russian forces have reportedly evacuated the Chernobyl power plant, Ukraine’s Atomic Energy Ministry said, citing officials at the site. Russian troops began withdrawing after soldiers received “significant doses of radiation” from digging trenches at the highly contaminated site, Ukraine’s state energy company said. Energoatom said the Russians had been digging in the forest inside the exclusion zone around the now-closed plant and “at the first sign of illness they panicked,” which “came up very quickly,” and began preparing to leave, Energoatom said.
Britain and its allies have agreed to send more lethal military aid to Ukraine to defend it against Russian invasion, said British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. Armored vehicles and long-range artillery will be deployed as part of the agreement.
France’s head of military intelligence, General Eric Vidaud leaves his post after Paris – unlike its Western allies – failed to accurately predict Russia would launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, multiple sources with knowledge of his exit said.