Russia Ukraine news – live: Wagner chief claims Bakhmut has been ‘taken’

Russia’s Wagner mercenary force’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed that his troops have raised a Russian flag in Bakhmut’s administrative building and “legally’ captured the Ukrainian salt mining city.

This claim comes despite Volodymyr Zelensky indicating that the battlefield situation was continuing to heat up in his nightly address.

Mr Zelensky has called the military situation “particularly hot” around Bakhmut last night, with no let-up in a months-long drive to seize the city, the most protracted battle in the Russian invasion.

A bomb attack has killed a prominent pro-Putin military blogger and more than a dozen other people were injured in the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Russian news reports said blogger Vladlen Tatarsky – real name Maxim Fomin – was killed and 15 people were hurt in the explosion at the Street Bar cafe in the country’s second largest city.

Tatarsky was one of the most prominent of the influential military bloggers who have provided an often critical running commentary on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Key Points

• Wagner’s Prigozhin says Russian flag raised in Bakhmut

• Zelensky says Bakhmut fight ‘particularly hot’

• Russia to bring nuclear weapons near Belarus borders with Nato

• Pro-Putin military blogger killed in St Petersburg cafe explosion

• Six killed and eight wounded in heavy shelling near Bakhmut

• Zelensky condemns Russia’s UN Security Council presidency as ‘absurd and destructive'

Wagner’s Prigozhin says Russian flag raised in Bakhmut as Zelensky calls fight ‘particularly hot'

Sunday 2 April 2023 23:33 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has called the military situation was “particularly hot” around Bakhmut last night, with no letup in a months-long drive to seize the city, the most protracted battle in the Russian invasion.

On the other hand, the founder of Russia‘s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his troops had raised a Russian flag on the administrative building in the city.

But there was no indication from Ukrainian officials or military commands that Bakhmut had fallen into Russian hands. Prigozhin has previously made claims that were premature.

“Thank you to our soldiers who are fighting in Avdiivka, Maryinka, and Bakhmut. Especially Bakhmut,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “It is especially hot there.”

Russian forces have for months been trying to encircle and capture Bakhmut, a town of 70,000 before the Russian invasion launched over a year ago.

Russia to bring nuclear weapons near Belarus borders with Nato

04:00 , Arpan Rai

Russia will move its tactical nuclear weapons close to the western borders of Belarus, officials said. This will place the nuclear weapons at Nato’s threshold in a move likely to spark tensions between Moscow and the West.

The weapons “will be moved to the western border of our union state and will increase the possibilities to ensure security,” Russian ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, told Belarusian state television.

“This will be done despite the noise in Europe and the United States.”

Vladimir Putin had said last week that Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, in one of Russia’s most pronounced nuclear signals since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine 13 months ago,

The two Slav neighbours are formally part of a “union state” and have been in talks for years to integrate further, a process that has accelerated after Minsk allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine last year.

It is not immediately clear where the weapons will be parked but the top envoy confirmed that a storage facility will be completed, as ordered by Mr Putin, by 1 July and then moved to the west of Belarus.

Watch: Russian military blogger handed statue moments before cafe explosion

02:10 , Joe Middleton

Windows designed by Cambridge student ‘make homes liveable’ in war-torn Ukraine

01:10 , Joe Middleton

Plastic windows designed by a Cambridge PhD student are transforming uninhabitable houses in war-torn parts of Ukraine into liveable homes, local residents have said.

Engineer Harry Blakiston Houston created the Insulate Ukraine project to replace bullet and bomb-damaged windows with plastic ones of his own design, pausing his studies to concentrate on the initiative.

According to the United Nations, millions of people in Ukraine are “living in damaged homes or in buildings ill-suited to provide sufficient protection”, particularly in the winter when temperatures can plummet to -20C.

Windows designed by Cambridge student ‘make homes liveable’ in war-torn Ukraine

Russia to put nukes near Belarus' western border, envoy says

Monday 3 April 2023 00:10 , Joe Middleton

Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed close to Belarus‘ borders with NATO neighbors, the Russian ambassador to Belarus said Sunday amid simmering tensions between Russia and the West over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Ambassador Boris Gryzlov’s comment followed Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s recent statement about plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Russia’s neighbor and ally. The announcement marked another attempt by the Russian leader to dangle the nuclear threat to discourage the West from supporting Ukraine.

Putin has said that construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will be complete by July 1 and added that Russia has helped modernize Belarusian warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Russia to put nukes near Belarus' western border, envoy says

St Petersburg cafe torn apart after explosion kills Russian military blogger

Sunday 2 April 2023 23:12 , Joe Middleton

Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed close to Belarus’ borders, Russian ambassador to Belarus confirms

Sunday 2 April 2023 22:08 , Joe Middleton

Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed close to Belarus’ borders with NATO neighbors, the Russian ambassador to Belarus said Sunday amid simmering tensions between Russia and the West over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Ambassador Boris Gryzlov’s comment followed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s recent statement about plans to station tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Russia’s neighbor and ally.

Putin has said that construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus will be complete by July 1 and added that Russia has helped modernize Belarusian warplanes to make them capable of carrying nuclear weapons.Gryzlov, speaking in remarks broadcast late Sunday by Belarusian state television, said the Russian nuclear weapons will be “moved up close to the Western border of our union state” but did not give any precise location.“It will expand our defense capability, and it will be done regardless of all the noise in Europe and the United States,” he said in a reference to Western criticism of Putin’s decision.

The deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus would put them closer to potential targets in Ukraine and NATO members in Eastern and Central Europe.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko said Friday that some of Russia’s strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed to Belarus along with part of Russia’s tactical nuclear arsenal.

Associated Press

Who was Vladlen Tatarsky?

Sunday 2 April 2023 21:44 , Joe Middleton

Vladlen Tatarsky, who had filed regular reports from Ukraine, was the pen name for Maxim Fomin, who had accumulated more than 560,000 followers on his Telegram messaging app channel.

Born in the Donbas, Ukraine‘s industrial heartland, Tatarsky worked as a coal miner before starting a furniture business. When he ran into financial difficulties, he robbed a bank and was sentenced to prison.

He fled from custody after a Russia-backed separatist rebellion engulfed the Donbas in 2014, weeks after Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine‘s Crimean Peninsula.

Then he joined separatist rebels and fought on the front line before turning to blogging. Tatarsky was known for his blustery pronouncements and ardent pro-war rhetoric.

After the Kremlin’s annexation of four regions of Ukraine last year that most of the world rejected as illegal, Tatarsky posted a video in which he vowed: “That’s it. We’ll defeat everybody, kill everybody, rob everybody we need to. It will all be the way we like it. God be with you.”

Russian officials said Tatarsky was killed as he was leading a discussion at the cafe on the bank of the Neva River in St Petersburg.

Twenty-five people were wounded in the blast, and 19 of them were hospitalized, according to the regional governor, Alexander Beglov.

Russia‘s foreign ministry says Western silence over cafe bombing shows ‘hypocrisy’

Sunday 2 April 2023 21:09 , Joe Middleton

Russia‘s foreign ministry made no accusations of involvement in the attack on a cafe in St Petersburg, but said silence in Western capitals exposed hypocrisy over expressions of concern for journalists.

Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, said the absence of reaction in Washington, London and Paris “speaks for itself given their ostensible concern for the well-being of journalists and freedom of expression.”

She wrote on the ministry’s website: “The reaction in Kyiv is striking where those who receive Western grants are in no way concealing their delight at what has happened.”

Watch: Russian military blogger handed statue moments before cafe explosion

Sunday 2 April 2023 21:00 , Joe Middleton

Bakhmut front line ‘especially hot’ today, President Zelensky says

Sunday 2 April 2023 20:30 , Thomas Kingsley

Volodymyr Zelensky has paid tribute to Ukrainian soldiers fighting against Russia.

Moscow has been sending waves and waves of attacks against the front line city in eastern Ukraine, which has been raised to the ground following months of war.

In his nightly address on Telegram, the Ukrainian president said: “I am grateful to our warriors who are fighting near Avdiivka, Maryinka, near Bakhmut.

“Especially Bakhmut! It's especially hot there today!”

Ukrainian forces have continued to hold on in Bakhmut despite calls from some Western pundits for them to abandon the city.

Now, according to some reports, Russia's offensive appears to be culminating in the city.

President Zelensky added: “The resilience of everyone is the resilience of the whole of Ukraine, helping everyone in a position nearby is helping the whole of Ukraine!”

ICYMI: Pro-Putin military blogger killed in St Petersburg cafe explosion

Sunday 2 April 2023 20:00 , Thomas Kingsley

One person was killed and 16 injured in an explosion in a cafe in Russia's St Petersburg on Sunday, the TASS news agency reported, citing emergency services.

News agency RIA has said well-known military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, has been killed in the explosion.

Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram and was one of the most prominent of the influential military bloggers who have provided an often critical running commentary on Russia's war in Ukraine.

He was among hundreds of attendees at a lavish Kremlin ceremony last September to proclaim Russia's annexation of four partly occupied regions of Ukraine, a move that most countries at the UN condemned as illegal.

Read the full story below:

Pro-Putin military blogger killed in St Petersburg cafe explosion

Pictured: scene after St Petersburg cafe explosion

Sunday 2 April 2023 19:27 , Joe Middleton

Video: One person killed and 15 injured in St Petersburg cafe blast

Sunday 2 April 2023 18:43 , Joe Middleton

Pro-Putin military blogger killed in St Petersburg cafe explosion

Sunday 2 April 2023 18:33 , Joe Middleton

One person was killed and six injured in an explosion in a cafe in Russia‘s St Petersburg on Sunday, the TASS news agency reported, citing emergency services.

News agency RIA has said well-known military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, has been killed in the explosion.

Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, had more than 560,000 followers on Telegram and was one of the most prominent of the influential military bloggers who have provided an often critical running commentary on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Pro-Putin military blogger killed in St Petersburg cafe explosion

The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary

Sunday 2 April 2023 16:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

It was a month into Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces had withdrawn from around Kyiv and in their wake Bel Trew and her team stumbled on a body by an abandoned Russian camp.

His hands were tied. He had been burned and shot in the back. Soldiers said he was a teenager.

As Bel tried to find out who he was and what had happened, she uncovered a nightmare world: a nation struggling to find thousands of its missing and to identify its dead.

The Body in the Woods by Bel Trew is streaming now on Independent TV and on your smart TV.

The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary

Lavrov held phone call with Blinken

Sunday 2 April 2023 15:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian news agencies said on Sunday, citing Russia‘s foreign ministry.

They did not say what was discussed.

The conversation came at a time of acute tension in U.S.-Russian relations, three days after Russia said it had arrested Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. reporter for the Wall Street Journal, on charges of espionage.

Journal reporter's arrest threatens reporting from Russia

Sunday 2 April 2023 15:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The arrest of a Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges in Russia has news organizations based outside the country weighing for the second time in a year whether the risks of reporting there during wartime are too great.

The Journal and other news outlets continued to press Friday for the release of Evan Gershkovich, He was taken into custody by Russian security officials a day earlier and accused of spying, charges the newspaper vehemently denies.

More than 30 press freedom groups and news organizations, including the Journal, The New York Times, BBC, The Associated Press, The New Yorker, Time and The Washington Post, signed a letter Friday to Anatoly I. Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., expressing concern about “a significant escalation in your government’s anti-press actions.

Journal reporter's arrest threatens reporting from Russia

War crimes warrant for Putin could complicate peace efforts, observers warn

Sunday 2 April 2023 14:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

An international arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin raises the prospect of the man whose country invaded Ukraine facing justice, but it complicates efforts to end that war in peace talks.

Both justice and peace appear to be only remote possibilities today, and the conflicting relationship between the two is a quandary at the heart of a decision on March 17 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to seek the Russian leader’s arrest.

Judges in The Hague found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Mr Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights were responsible for war crimes, specifically the unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.

As unlikely as Mr Putin sitting in a Hague courtroom seems now, other leaders have faced justice in international courts.

Former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a driving force behind the Balkan wars of the 1990s, went on trial for war crimes, including genocide, at a United Nations tribunal in The Hague after he lost power. He died in his cell in 2006 before a verdict could be reached.

Serbia, which wants European Union membership but has maintained close ties to Russia, is one of the countries that has criticised the ICC’s action. The warrants “will have bad political consequences” and create “a great reluctance to talk about peace (and) about truce” in Ukraine, populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said.

Others see consequences for Mr Putin, and for anyone judged guilty of war crimes, as the primary desired outcome of international action.

“There will be no escape for the perpetrator and his henchmen,” European Union leader Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday in a speech to mark the one-year anniversary of the liberation of Bucha, the Ukraine town that saw some of the worst atrocities in the war.

“War criminals will be held accountable for their deeds,” she added.

Brittney Griner urges Biden to bring home reporter Gershkovich

Sunday 2 April 2023 14:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who was freed from a Russian penal colony in a prisoner exchange last year, has urged the Biden administration to keep using “every tool possible” to win the release of a U.S. reporter accused of spying in Russia.

Griner and her wife Cherelle said on Instagram that “our hearts are filled with great concern” for Evan Gershkovich, the journalist arrested by Russia‘s FSB security service last week in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

The Kremlin says Gershkovich was using journalism as a cover for spying activity - something his newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, has vehemently denied.

Russia has not made public any evidence to support the charges, under which Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in jail. The White House has described the accusations as “ridiculous” and President Joe Biden has called on Moscow to release him.

The Griners said they were grateful for Biden’s “deep commitment to rescue Americans”. They cited the cases of aid worker Jeff Woodke, freed last month after being kidnapped for more than six years in West Africa, and Paul Rusesabagina, a permanent U.S. resident who returned home last week after being released from prison in Rwanda.

The couple added, “we call on all of our supporters to both celebrate the wins and encourage the administration to continue to use every tool possible to bring Evan and all wrongfully detained Americans home”.

Brittney Griner, a WNBA star and double Olympic gold medallist who played for a Russian team in the off-season, was arrested at a Moscow airport one week before Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

She was found with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony after being convicted on drug smuggling and possession charges, a verdict that Biden called “unacceptable”.

She was freed in December in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who spent 14 years in jail in the United States for arms trafficking, money laundering and conspiring to kill Americans.

What’s happening on the battlefield?

Sunday 2 April 2023 13:58 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Here is the latest from the frontline:

* Six civilians were killed and eight wounded in Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine on Sunday morning, a senior Ukrainian official said. Kostiantynivka, home to about 70,000 people before the war, is just 20 km (12.5 miles) west of Bakhmut, the epicentre of fighting for at least eight months as Russian forces try to capture the city.

Reuters could not independently verify the number of casualties.

* Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu promised to boost munitions supplies to Russian forces in Ukraine during a visit to the headquarters of Moscow’s troops fighting in the country, according to footage published by the Defence Ministry on Saturday.

Russia becomes president of UN Security Council despite Ukraine invasion

Sunday 2 April 2023 13:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia has taken over as president of the UN Security Council despite its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s foreign minister described the decision as indicative that “something is wrong” with international security structures.

Russia replaced Mozambique on Saturday, 1 April despite protests from Ukraine that urged members to block the move.

Around 50 Ukrainians protested in front of the UN’s office in Brussels on Saturday afternoon, waving a mixture of Ukrainian and EU flags.

Russia becomes rotating president of UN Security Council despite Ukrainian invasion

Ukrainian official offers plan for a Crimea without Russia

Sunday 2 April 2023 12:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A top Ukrainian official on Sunday outlined a series of steps the government in Kyiv would take after the country reclaims control of Crimea, including dismantling the strategic bridge that links the seized Black Sea peninsula to Russia.

Ukrainian official offers plan for a Crimea without Russia

Six killed and eight wounded in heavy shelling near Bakhmut

Sunday 2 April 2023 11:28 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Six civilians were killed and eight wounded in Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine on Sunday morning, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Kostiantynivka, home to about 70,000 people before the war, is just 20 km (12.5 miles) west of Bakhmut, the epicentre of fighting for at least eight months as Russian forces try to capture the city.

“Russians have carried out massive shelling of the town of Kostiantynivka,” Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said on the Telegram messaging app.

He said 16 apartment buildings, eight private houses, a kindergarten and an administrative building were damaged.

Yermak added photos showing the partial destruction of buildings and craters from explosions.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the photos or the number of casualties.

Ukraine says at least three killed, six wounded in Russian shelling in east of country

Sunday 2 April 2023 11:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

At least three civilians were killed and six wounded in Russian shelling of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine on Sunday morning, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Kostiantynivka, home to about 70,000 people before the war, is just 20 km (12.5 miles) west of Bakhmut, the epicentre of fighting for at least eight months as Russian forces try to capture the city.

“Russians have carried out massive shelling of the town of Kostiantynivka,” Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said on the Telegram messaging app.

A photos published by Yermak showed the partial destruction of buildings and craters from explosions.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the photos and the number of casualties.

War-crimes warrant for Putin could complicate Ukraine peace

Sunday 2 April 2023 10:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

An international arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin raises the prospect of the man whose country invaded Ukraine facing justice, but it complicates efforts to end that war in peace talks.

“The arrest warrant for Putin might undermine efforts to reach a peace deal in Ukraine,” Daniel Krcmaric, an associate professor of political science at Northwestern University, said to The Associated Press.

Alexander Baunov, an analyst with the Carnegie Endowment, observed that the arrest warrant for Putin amounted to “an invitation to the Russian elite to abandon Putin” that could erode his support.

Rights groups have welcomed the ICC warrant but called for the need to focus on similar justice initiatives elsewhere as well.

“The ICC warrant for Putin reflects an evolving and multifaceted justice effort that is needed elsewhere in the world,” Human Rights Watch associate international justice director Balkees Jarrah said in a statement.

“Similar justice initiatives are needed elsewhere to ensure that the rights of victims globally — whether in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, or Palestine — are respected.”

Russia fails to achieve goal of seizing Donbas by end of March

Sunday 2 April 2023 10:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

The Institute of the Study of War has said that Russia’s winter offensive has failed to achieve the goal of seizing Ukraine’s Donbas.

Kremlin had set the goal of seizing Donbas, comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, by 31 March.

ICYMI: Zelensky vows ‘never to forgive’ Russia over Bucha occupation on liberation anniversary

Sunday 2 April 2023 09:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine will never forgive Russian troops responsible for atrocities in Bucha, as the town near Kyiv marked the anniversary of its recapture after more than a month of occupation.

Read more:

Zelensky vows ‘never to forgive’ Russia over Bucha on liberation anniversary

Zelensky condemns Russia’s UN Security Council presidency as ‘absurd and destructive'

Sunday 2 April 2023 09:17 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky has lashed out at the start of Russia’s month-long UN Security Council presidency, calling the move “absurd and destructive”.

Russia has taken up the monthly presidency of the 15-member UN Security Council from Saturday, despite the fact that Vladimir Putin has been accused of war crimes and was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court.

“It is hard to imagine something more evident that proves the complete bankruptcy of such institutions,” Zelensky said.

Wall Street Journal demands immediate release of reporter arrested in Russia

Sunday 2 April 2023 09:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

The Wall Street Journal on Saturday demanded the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, a Moscow-based correspondent who was arrested by Russia’s FSB security service (Federal Security Service) on suspicion of spying.

“Evan’s case is a vicious affront to a free press, and should spur outrage in all free people and governments throughout the world, the newspaper said in a statement on Twitter.

Ukraine cleric accused of glorifying Russia invasion given house arrest

Sunday 2 April 2023 08:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

A top Ukrainian cleric from a church with alleged Russian ties was sentenced to house arrest on Saturday.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) is facing a crackdown from the government on the grounds it is pro-Russian and collaborating with Moscow, a charge the church denies.

In a statement, the UOC said a Kyiv court also ordered Metropolitan Pavlo to wear an electronic bracelet.

The Interfax Ukraine and Ukrinform news agencies said he had been given 60 days of house arrest.

“I haven’t done anything. I believe this is a political order,” the cleric told reporters after the ruling.

Away from home but not from war – the Ukrainian women forced to flee

Sunday 2 April 2023 08:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Nearly 8 million Ukrainians have fled their homeland since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour on 24 February 2022.

The majority of these refugees are women and children, as most Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 were ordered to stay and fight.

Read more:

Away from home but not from war – the Ukrainian women forced to flee

War has killed 262 Ukrainian athletes, sports minister says

Sunday 2 April 2023 07:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Russia’s war against Ukraine has killed 262 Ukrainian athletes and destroyed 363 sports facilities, the country’s sports minister, Vadym Huttsait, said on Saturday.

The minister said no athletes from Russia should be allowed at the Olympics or other sports competitions.

“They all support this war and attend events held in support of this war,” he said, according to a transcript on president Volodymyr Zelensky’s website.

Ukraine said on Friday its athletes will not be allowed to take part in qualifying events for the 2024 Games if they have to compete against Russians.

The International Olympic Committee has recommended the gradual return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international competition as neutrals, and criticised Ukraine’s decision.

Russia becomes president of UN Security Council despite Ukraine invasion

Sunday 2 April 2023 07:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Russia has taken over as president of the UN Security Council despite its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia replaced Mozambique on Saturday, 1 April despite protests from Ukraine that urged members to block the move.

Around 50 Ukrainians protested in front of the UN’s office in Brussels on Saturday afternoon, waving a mixture of Ukrainian and EU flags.

Eleanor Noyce reports:

Russia becomes rotating president of UN Security Council despite Ukrainian invasion

Russia's Security Council presidency 'slap in the face', says Ukraine

Sunday 2 April 2023 06:28 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Ukraine has lashed out at the start of Russia’s month-long UN Security Council presidency.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia’s tenure was “a slap in the face to the international community.”

“I urge the current UNSC members to thwart any Russian attempts to abuse its presidency,” he said on Twitter, calling Russia “an outlaw on the UNSC.”