Live blog: France to deliver 78 howitzers to aid Ukraine in Russia war

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

1617 GMT — France will soon be able to deliver 78 Caesar howitzers to Ukraine and will boost its supply of shells to meet Kiev's urgent needs for ammunition to fight Russia, the defence minister has said.

Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said at a news conference that an agreement was reached among France, Ukraine and Denmark to finance the Caesar self-propelled 155 mm howitzers, which will enable France to “quickly deliver” them.

France has also set a goal to deliver 80,000 shells for 155 mm guns to Ukraine this year — up from 30,000 delivered since the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022, he said.

In addition, Lecornu said, France is participating in an effort to identify available stocks of gunpowder and ammunition that could be bought from countries outside the European Union, a plan initiated by Czechia to further support Kiev.

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1649 GMT — Russia sees no chance of Swiss leading Ukraine peace process: envoy

Russia sees no chance of Switzerland leading efforts to secure peace in Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat has said, after Bern said it planned to host a high-level Ukraine peace conference in the coming months.

Swiss authorities have said that Russia is unlikely to take part, at least not at the outset of the talks.

"As of now, we don't see any possibility that Switzerland would take the lead and organise something," said Gennady Gatilov, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

1416 GMT — Zelenskyy dismisses head of Ukraine's security body

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed Oleksii Danilov from his post as the head of the country's National Security and Defense Council.

The decree on Danilov's dismissal was published by the Ukrainian presidency, which later posted another decree appointing Oleksandr Lytvynenko as his replacement.

Lytvynenko was dismissed as head of Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service in an earlier decree.

No reason was given for the dismissal of Danilov, who took the post back in October 2019, but it does come in the third year of Russia’s war with Ukraine, and with Ukrainian forces not doing as well in fighting off Russia than they had hoped.

1319 GMT — Moscow attackers tried fleeing to Belarus first: Lukashenko

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said the attackers who carried out last week's massacre at a Moscow concert hall tried fleeing to his country first, but turned away because of checkpoints.

"That's why there was no way they could enter Belarus. They saw that. That's why they turned away and went to the section of the Ukrainian-Russian border," Lukashenko said, contradicting Russia's claim they tried crossing into Ukraine first.

1247 GMT — Russia claims West aided Moscow attackers

The head of Russia's FSB security agency has claimed that Western and Ukrainian special services had aided the attackers who stormed a Moscow concert hall last week, killing dozens.

Russia continues to allege Ukraine was somehow involved in Friday's massacre, even after President Vladimir Putin acknowledged "radical Islamists" had carried it out.

"We believe the action was prepared both by the radical Islamists themselves and, of course, facilitated by Western special services, and Ukraine's special services themselves have a direct connection to this," FSB head Alexander Bortnikov was cited as saying by Russian news agencies.

1233 GMT — Ukraine ready to licence farm exports to assuage Poland: minister

Ukraine is ready to introduce export licences for its agricultural products to help address farmer anger in Poland, its agriculture minister told AFP, adding that he was "disappointed" by EU curbs on those goods.

Polish farmers have since February been blocking border posts with Ukraine in protest at what they view as unfair competition from their neighbouring counterparts, who have special EU dispensation since 2022 to export duty-free into the bloc.

Warsaw is calling for an EU ceiling on Ukraine imports, after having imposed one unilaterally last year.

1028 GMT –– Ukraine detains suspected Russian agents trying to blow up strategic rail line, spy agency says

Ukrainian security officers have arrested two people suspected of acting on behalf of Russia as they tried to blow up a railway line used to supply weapons to the east for Kiev's war effort, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said.

The detainees, identified only as residents of the Kiev and Kharkiv regions, planted an explosive device by the line in central Poltava region and planned to detonate it remotely, but they were caught red-handed by SBU officers, the statement said.

There was no immediate comment from Russia.

1025 GMT –– Ukraine says its weekend attack damaged four Russian ships

The Ukrainian navy has said it damaged four Russian naval ships in its weekend missile attack on Crimea, according to new information.

The armed forces had said previously that an overnight attack from Saturday to Sunday damaged only two amphibious landing ships: the Yamal and the Azov.

According to updated information, "Ukraine's defence forces (also) successfully damaged the spy ship Ivan Khurs and the Konstantin Olshansky large landing ship," the navy said on Facebook.

Russia has not commented on this claim.

Ukraine has claimed to have destroyed around a third of Russia's Black Sea Fleet since the Russian offensive in February 2022.

1013 GMT –– Moscow says pro-Kiev Russian died in blast during arrest

Moscow has said a Russian working for Ukrainian security services died when an explosive in his possession detonated during arrest in the Samara region, alleging he was planning an attack.

The FSB security services said the suspect was a member of the Russian Volunteer Corps, one of several pro-Ukrainian armed groups that has recently launched incursions in Russian border regions from Ukraine.

"When the perpetrator was apprehended, the IED he had seized detonated, leaving him with fatal injuries. Neither security personnel nor civilians were injured," the FSB said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

0844 GMT –– Five wounded by Ukrainian shelling on Russian border region

Ukrainian bombardments has left five people wounded in the Russian border region of Belgorod, the regional governor said, in the latest bout in escalating cross-border attacks between Kiev and Moscow.

The governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media that five people had been wounded in separate bombardments of two villages.

Gladkov said air defence systems had intercepted incoming projectiles and that the wounded were being treated. He said two firefighters were among those injured in one of the villages and several homes were damaged.

0608 GMT –– Ukraine shoots down 12 Russian attack drones during overnight attack

Ukraine has shot down all 12 attack drones launched overnight by Russia, Kiev's air force said in a statement.

It added that the Iranian-made drones were destroyed over the southern Mykolaiv and eastern Kharkiv regions.

0309 GMT –– Ukraine peace talks without Russia will fail, Kremlin spokesperson says

Any global peace summit on Ukraine that excludes Russia is simply "absurd" and will fail, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said in an interview.

Peskov also told the news outlet Argumenty I Fakty that Russia was pursuing its two-year-old war on Ukraine to protect itself from the West.

"Can the Ukrainian problem be resolved without Russia's participation? The reply is clear - it cannot," Peskov said in the interview conducted last Thursday, a day before the mass shooting at a concert hall outside Moscow.

"Because Ukraine has been turned into an instrument in the hands of the collective West with whose help it intends, so it seems to them, to put more pressure on Russia, restrain Russia and abandon it to the fringes of development," he added.

"And, should they succeed, to finish it off."

0139 GMT — Russia strikes Kiev for 3rd time in 5 days: Ukraine

Russia has launched missiles against Kiev for the third time in five days and also targeted other regions as Moscow escalated its aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities while the front line in the war remains largely stationary, Ukrainian officials said.

Nine people were injured in the strike on the Ukrainian capital, the Ukraine Rescue Service said. The Pecherskyi district was the hardest hit.

Missile debris damaged homes in two districts and a local college gym in another district, Ukraine's National Police said.

Russia fired two ballistic missiles at Kiev from Crimea in the daylight attack, but both were intercepted above the city, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kiev City Military Administration.

2129 GMT — Zelenskyy woos Ukrainian Muslim representatives with iftar dinner

Ukraine's Zelenskyy, with the Ukrainian military, has participated in an iftar dinner with leaders of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and representatives of the Muslim community and clergy, according to the presidency website.

"Last year, we initiated a new tradition – to celebrate the holy Ramadan together. The political leadership of our country, the military command, representatives of the Ukrainian Muslim community, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and the diplomatic corps – all together," Zelenskyy said.

"I would like to recognise Muslim warriors – all those who are part of the Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine defending our country, our freedom. I thank each of our warriors for their bravery. I thank everyone who brings the liberation of our entire land and our Crimea closer."

For our live updates from Monday, March 25, click here.