Live blog: Russia's FSB faces US sanctions over detentions, Ukraine war

The Biden administration has sanctioned Russia's domestic security service, Federal Security Service (FSB), accusing it of being responsible or complicit in the wrongful detention of Americans overseas, senior administration officials said.

Thursday's announcement was the first rollout of new sanctions authorities established last year by President Joe Biden for use against those holding Americans unjustly captive.

Still, the sanctions are largely symbolic, since the FSB is already under sweeping existing sanctions for an array of allegedly malevolent behaviour — from election interference, Russia's military operation in Ukraine and alleged support for terrorist activity.

Senior administration officials declined to specify which detentions specifically underpinned the sanctions, saying they were a response to a pattern of actions in unjustly holding Americans both currently and in the past. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the thinking behind the sanctions.

They noted that Thursday's actions were in the works well before the arrest last month of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia, whose imprisonment was swiftly deemed unjust by the US government.

"Our action is a warning to those around the world who would wrongfully detain U.S. nationals of the potential consequences of their actions," a senior administration official briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity said.

According to reports, the US is also imposing sanctions against Iranian entities.

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1931 GMT - Russia's forced transfer of Ukraine children 'genocide': Council of Europe

Russia's forced transfer of Ukrainian children amounts to genocide, the Council of Europe said Thursday in a resolution adopted by its parliamentary assembly.

Calling for the safe return of the children to Ukraine, the parliament said "the documented evidence of this practice matches with the international definition of genocide".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the resolution as an "important" decision that will help "hold Russia and its leaders to account".

The deportation of Ukrainian children is one element of "Russia's attempt to erase the identity of our people, to destroy the very essence of the Ukrainian people", he said in his evening address.

On March 17, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing the "unlawful deportation" of children.

Kyiv said in mid-April that more than 16,000 Ukrainian children had been "abducted" and taken to Russia since the start of the invasion on February 24 last year. It said many of them had bee n placed in care homes.

Thursday's resolution at the Council of Europe's parliament said there was "evidence that deported children had faced a process of 'russification' through re-education in Russian language, culture and history".

1914 GMT - Putin orders creation of museums dedicated to Ukraine conflict

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian government to begin work on creating museums dedicated to Moscow's ongoing offensive in Ukraine, according to instructions published on the Kremlin website.

The new regional and municipal museums should be "dedicated to the events of the special military operation and the exploits of its participants", according to the official document, dated Wednesday but appearing on the Kremlin website on Thursday.

The "special military operation" is Russia's name for its attack on Ukraine, launched in February 2022.

As part of the museums initiative, Putin said the relevant authorities should consider how to transfer "artefacts related to the special military operation" so that they can go on display.

1314 GMT - Ukraine ask Pope Francis' help in getting children back from Russia

Ukraine’s prime minister said he asked Pope Francis during a private Vatican audience to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, briefing reporters on his half-hour audience with the pontiff, said he also invited Francis to come to Ukraine.

“I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, Ukrainian children who are detained, arrested, and criminally deported to Russia,'' Shmyhal said.

The Vatican's brief statement on the audience did not go into particular points of the talks. It noted that Shmyhal met with the Holy See's secretary of state and foreign minister after his meeting with Francis.

During the “cordial discussions, which took place in the Secretariat of State, various matters connected to the war in Ukraine were highlighted, with particular attention to the humanitarian aspects and efforts to restore peace," the Vatican said.

1254 GMT - Wagner mercenary chief Prigozhin jokes about suspending artillery fire in Bakhmut

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group has said that he had been joking when he said his men would suspend artillery fire in Bakhmut to allow Ukrainian forces on the other side of the frontline to show the city to visiting US journalists.

Wagner has been spearheading Russia's assault on Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukrainian forces have so far thwarted its attempts to take full control of the city.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner's founder, said in an audio message published on Thursday by his press service: "A decision has been taken to suspend artillery fire so that American journalists can safely film Bakhmut and go home."

However, in a later audio message, Prigozhin said: "Guys, this is military humour. Humour, and nothing more... It was a joke."

0933 GMT - Xi-Zelenskyy call welcomed, but Russia set on Ukraine goals

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said Russia welcomed anything that could bring the end of the Ukraine conflict closer when asked about a phone call a day earlier between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

But the Kremlin still needed to achieve the aims of what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine according to Peskov, who said: "We are ready to welcome anything that could hasten the end of the conflict in Ukraine and Russia achieving all the goals it has set itself".

The Chinese and Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday spoke for the first time since Russia sent its troops into Ukraine in February last year, fulfilling a longstanding goal of Kiev which had publicly sought such talks for months.

0916 GMT - Ukraine received 1,550 armoured vehicles, 230 tanks: NATO chief

NATO allies and partners have provided Ukraine with 1,550 armoured vehicles and 230 tanks to form units and help it retake territory from Russian forces, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said.

The deliveries, since the start of the war in February last year, represent "more than 98 percent of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine", Stoltenberg told a news conference.

"In total we have trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian armoured brigades. This will put Ukraine in a strong position to continue to retake occupied territory."

0902 GMT - NATO's Stoltenberg welcomes call between China's Xi and Ukraine's Zelenskyy

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that he "welcomed" a call between China's President Xi Jinping and Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, although he added this did not change the fact that China had still not condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, fulfilling a longstanding goal of Kiev which had publicly sought such talks for months.

0846 GMT - Blast kills police officer in Russia-controlled Melitopol

A blast in the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol has killed a police officer, Russian authorities said, in the latest in a series of such attacks.

"Today at about 5:15 am (0200 GMT) there was an explosion at the entrance of an apartment building in Melitopol. Two policemen were injured and hospitalised. Subsequently, one of them died," the local branch of the Russian interior ministry said.

The Ukrainian mayor of the city Ivan Fedorov, who is working from territory controlled by Kiev, said the dead policeman was Oleksandr Mishchenko who had "not only defected to the side of the enemy but also tricked his employees into becoming traitors".

Melitopol, with a pre-war population of around 150,000 people, was captured early after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year and now lies some 65 kilometres (40 miles) behind the frontline further north.

0108 GMT - Russians 'pound' positions in Bakhmut, Mykolayiv

Russian forces have pounded the city of Bakhmut, the months-old focal point of their attempts to capture the eastern Ukrainian industrial region of Donbass, and the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary force said Ukrainian troops were pouring in ahead of an "inevitable" counter-offensive.

The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces, in a report on Facebook, said fighting gripped Bakhmut and nearby areas. It said Russian forces had failed to advance on two villages to the northwest. At least a dozen localities came under Russian fire.

Meanwhile, a Russian missile killed one person in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv during Thursday's early hours, officials there said. More than a dozen were also wounded.

"Around 1 am, residents of Mykolayiv heard 4 loud explosions," city mayor Oleksandr Senkevych posted on Telegram. "It is already known that one of the missiles hit a high-rise building. One more hit a private house." He added that some homes in the city had lost power.

For our live updates from Wednesday (April 26), click here