Russia-Ukraine war latest: G7 commits to phasing out Russian oil, says Putin’s actions ‘bring shame on Russia’– as it happened
From 8 May 2022 21.48 60 people confirmed killed at school bombed by Russians Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed late Sunday what many had feared but were hoping would not be true: 60 people who were sheltering in the Bilohorivka school that Russian forces bombed this weekend were killed in the attack. About 90 people had been sheltering in that school at the time of the attack. In news overnight, dozens of people are feared dead after a bomb hit a school in east Ukraine.



About 90 people had been sheltering in the building and 30 were rescued, seven of them wounded, from the rubble of the school in Bilohorivka — Sam Wilkinson (@WilkoSam) May 8, 2022 António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, issued a statement Sunday saying he was “appalled” by the attack on the school. “This attack is yet another reminder that in this war, as in so many other conflicts, it is civilians that pay the highest price,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general. Read more here: Sixty killed in Russian airstrike on Ukraine school Read more

Updated at 22.38 BST

9 May 2022 03.57 Japan will take time to phase out Russian oil imports after agreeing on a ban with other G7 nations to counter Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, prime minister Fumio Kishida has said. “For a country heavily dependent on energy imports, it’s a very difficult decision. But G7 coordination is most important at a time like now,” Kishida told reporters according to Reuters, repeating comments he made at the G7 meeting. As for the timing of the reduction or stoppage of (Russian) oil imports, we will consider it while gauging the actual situation. We will take our time to take steps towards a phase-out. He did not elaborate. The G7 nations committed to the move “in a timely and orderly fashion” at an online meeting on Sunday to put further pressure on president Vladimir Putin, although members such as resource-poor Japan depend heavily on Russian fuel. There have been no ships loading Russian oil for Japan since mid-April, according to Refinitiv data. About 1.9 million barrels were exported from Russia to Japan in April, 33% down from the same month a year ago. Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida. Photograph: Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO/REX/Shutterstock The Ukraine crisis has highlighted Japan’s energy dependence on Russia even as Tokyo has acted swiftly and in tandem with the G7 in instituting sanctions. The latest ban underlines a turn in Japan’s policy. Japan has said it would be difficult to immediately cut off Russian oil imports, which accounted for about 33 million barrels of Japan’s overall oil imports, or 4%, for 2021. It has already said it will ban Russian coal imports in stages, leaving just liquefied natural gas (LNG). Japan is in a particularly tough spot since it shut down the bulk of its nuclear reactors following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Russia was Japan’s fifth-biggest supplier of crude oil and LNG last year.



9 May 2022 03.33 A Fiji court has suspended the execution of a US warrant to seize a $300 million super yacht Washington claims is owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, prosecutors have said according to AFP. The 348-foot Amadea has been targeted because Kerimov is among a group of oligarchs close to Moscow who have been sanctioned by the United States over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The yacht remains in Fiji police custody and is blocked from leaving the Pacific nation’s waters despite the warrant suspension, prosecutors said. The luxurious Amadea – which has a helipad, pool, jacuzzi and “winter garden” on its sun deck, according to tracking website superyachtfan.com – has been berthed in Lautoka, Fiji in the South Pacific since mid-April. The super yacht Amadea, reportedly owned by a Russian oligarch, berthed at the Queens Wharf in Lautoka, Fiji. Photograph: Leon Lord/FIJI SUN/AFP/Getty Images Last week, Fijian law enforcement, backed by US agents, took control of the super yacht under the warrant, which was lodged with the island state’s High Court. The US Justice Department requested the vessel, which it has estimated to be valued at $300 million, be seized for violating sanctions and for alleged ties to corruption. But the company officially registered as the Amadea’s owner, Millemarin Investment, on Friday obtained a temporary stay on the US warrant’s execution from the Court of Appeal, Fiji prosecutors said. The Court of Appeal “granted an interim stay on the execution of the warrant”, a spokeswoman for Fiji’s office of the director of public prosecutions told AFP on Monday. The case is scheduled to return to court on Thursday and the US warrant remains officially registered with the Fiji courts, she said. “The yacht has been further restrained from leaving the Fiji waters until further notice,” she added. “It is in Fiji police custody at this point.”



9 May 2022 02.50 Joanna Partridge The UK government has expanded its sanctions against Russia to include punitive import tariffs on Russian precious metals, as well as export bans on certain UK products, to increase economic pressure on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine, Guardian business reporter Joanna Partridge writes. The third wave of sanctions was announced by the Department for International Trade just hours ahead of Russia’s 9 May Victory Day celebrations. The latest £1.7bn sanctions on Russia and neighbouring Belarus – which has joined in the invasion of Ukraine and been used as a base for Russian soldiers – are aimed at knocking Putin’s ability to fund his war. The new package of restrictions includes £1.4bn of UK import tariffs – border taxes paid by buyers on goods shipped from Russia – that will affect imports of platinum, palladium and other products including chemicals from Russia. The international trade department said Russia was highly dependent on the UK for exports of the precious metals, which will be subject to additional 35 percentage point tariffs. The latest measures, announced by the international trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, bring the total value of products subject to full or partial trade sanctions since Russia’s invasion to more than £4bn. For more, read on here: UK expands import sanctions against Russia and Belarus Read more



9 May 2022 02.35 Here’s a bit more from Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who gave an interview to Reuters during his unannounced visit to Ukraine on Sunday, telling the newswire the world would do everything possible to ensure that Russian president Vladimir Putin loses his war in Ukraine, including keeping Moscow under sanctions for years. “What Putin needs to understand is that the west is absolutely determined and resolved to stand against what he is doing,” Trudeau said. His illegal war, his escalations, his crossing of red lines by choosing to further invade Ukraine means that we will do as a world everything we can to make sure that he loses. Speaking on the sidelines of an unannounced visit to Ukraine for talks with president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whom he calls a friend, Trudeau said Putin was making a terrible mistake. “He is inflicting atrocities upon civilians, and it’s all something that he is doing because he thought he could win. But he can only lose,” Trudeau said when asked what he would tell Putin on the eve of Russia’s commemorations of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two, which Moscow calls the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau (L) meets with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv. Photograph: EyePress News/REX/Shutterstock Trudeau also echoed a statement from the Group of Seven issued earlier on Sunday, following a video call of G7 leaders with Zelinskiy, on how Putin’s “actions bring shame on Russia and the historic sacrifices of its people” during the second world war.

Quite frankly, on Victory in Europe Day, when we all celebrate the victory over fascism of so many decades ago. Vladimir Putin is bringing shame upon the memory of the millions of Russians who fought and died in the fight for freedom and the fight against fascism. Earlier, Trudeau said Canada would provide new weapons and equipment for Ukraine and will reopen its embassy in Kyiv, the country’s capital.

Trudeau said all the countries that have imposed sanctions on Moscow, which have taken a steep toll on the Russian economy, are determined to keep them in place as long as necessary, even for years.

Vladimir Putin cannot upend over 70 years of stability and growth and prosperity for the world and expect to continue to benefit from that stability, growth and prosperity.



9 May 2022 02.21 Ukraine’s counteroffensive northeast of Kharkiv has likely forced Russian troops to redeploy to the city instead of reinforcing stalled Russian offensive operations elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, the Institute of War has said in its latest analysis of the conflict. Russian forces are likely amassing in Belgorod to deploy to the Kharkiv City region to prevent the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the area from reaching the international border.

Russian forces were also continuing their attempt to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts but have not made substantial territorial gains since securing Popasna on Saturday, the US-based think tank added. Other potential developments to look out for were: Russian forces will likely continue to merge offensive efforts southward of Izyum with westward advances from Donetsk in order to encircle Ukrainian troops in southern Kharkiv oblast and Western Donetsk.

Russia may change the status of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, possibly by merging them into a single “Donbas Republic” and/or by annexing them directly to Russia.

Russian forces have apparently decided to seize the Azovstal plant through ground assault and will likely continue operations accordingly.

Russian forces may be preparing to conduct renewed offensive operations to capture the entirety of Kherson oblast in the coming days.

#Russian forces did not make any significant advances on any axis of advance on May 8. The #Ukrainian counteroffensive NE of #Kharkiv City has likely forced Russian troops to redeploy to that area.



Read the latest from @TheStudyofWar & @criticalthreats: https://t.co/K87fihFBxY pic.twitter.com/QtaXCwPIy4 — ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 8, 2022



9 May 2022 01.55 President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented Ukraine’s famous mine sniffing dog Patron and his owner with a medal on Sunday to recognise their dedicated service since Russia’s invasion, Reuters has reported. The pint-size Jack Russell terrier has been credited with detecting more than 200 explosives and preventing their detonation since the start of the war on 24 February, quickly becoming a canine symbol of Ukrainian patriotism. Zelenskiy made the award at a news conference in Kyiv with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Patron barked and wagged his tail, prompting laughter from the audience. Trudeau patted his pockets as though looking for a dog treat. “Today, I want to award those Ukrainian heroes who are already clearing our land of mines. And together with our heroes, a wonderful little sapper – Patron – who helps not only to neutralise explosives, but also to teach our children the necessary safety rules in areas where there is a mine threat,” Zelenskiy said in a statement after the ceremony. The award also went to Patron’s owner, a major in the Civil Protection Service, Myhailo Iliev. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau (R) and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy (second from R) present a medal to Patron and his owner Myhailo Iliev. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters Mine sniffing dog Patron. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Patron the dog has received an official award alongside his colleagues from Ukraine President Zelenskyy, in the presence of Canada PM @JustinTrudeau. What an honour! pic.twitter.com/uig8VFi5z4 — Stratcom Centre UA (@StratcomCentre) May 9, 2022

Updated at 02.35 BST

9 May 2022 01.43 Emma Graham-Harrison An update from one of the Guardian’s correspondents in Ukraine, Emma Graham Harrison, on the evacuees from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol: The convoy arrived in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia after dark, carrying about 170 evacuees. There were 51 civilians who had been sheltering in the Azovstal complex, and about 120 others who had walked or hitched lifts across the city to a pickup point in a ruined shopping mall. The journey of just over 200 kilometres took two days, as the convoy of buses was held for hours at Russian checkpoints and the hungry, weary residents inside interrogated. “I didn’t think we would make it out alive, so I don’t have any plans for my future,” said Natalia, who worked at the Azovstal plant all her adult life and then sheltered for over two months in its network of bunkers. She had fled with little more than a collection of drawings made by children in their shelter; she had organised drawing competitions to occupy them and kept the pictures to remember. “I wouldn’t have given them up even if they shot me. About 36 hours later the group filed slowly off the buses into the late evening dark, and fell upon a hot meal prepared in the registration tent. It also had clothes and toys, as most people fled with just a couple of bags. “It is a breath of fresh air to be on Ukrainian-held land,” said Tatiana, who fled with her daughter and granddaughter. Men, women and children get off a bus in Zaporizhzhia after having arrived from Mariupol. Photograph: ed ram/The Guardian Read on here: ‘I didn’t think we would make it’: last wave of Azovstal evacuees reach safety Read more

Updated at 02.23 BST

9 May 2022 01.05 The Guardian’s Ed Ram has managed to take some pictures of the civilians evacuated from the Azovstal steelworks to Zaporizhzhia: Children eat and drink at a food tent. Photograph: ed ram/The Guardian Men, women and children get off a bus in Zaporizhzhia after having arrived from Mariupol. Photograph: ed ram/The Guardian Women and children eat and drink at a food tent. Photograph: ed ram/The Guardian An elderly women is helped off a bus. Photograph: ed ram/The Guardian



8 May 2022 23.52 Vladimir Putin’s regime is “mirroring” the actions of the Nazis, the UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, will say as the Russian leader stages a military parade to celebrate victory over Hitler’s fascists, according to an advance copy of the speech. In a speech on Monday, Wallace will say president Putin and his inner circle should share the same fate as the Nazis, who ended up defeated and facing the Nuremberg trials for their atrocities. In Moscow, Putin will watch the Victory Day parade of military hardware, marking the defeat of the Nazis in 1945. Ukraine speech: Tomorrow Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP will say Russian military leaders are as much to blame for the invasion as President Putin and should face the consequences 👇



🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/ckPmf8HhBc — Ministry of Defence Press Office (@DefenceHQPress) May 8, 2022 According to extracts briefed to the Telegraph and Times, Wallace will say: “Through their invasion of Ukraine, Putin, his inner circle and generals are now mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 70 years ago, repeating the errors of last century’s totalitarian regimes. “Their fate must also, surely, eventually be the same.” Read on here in this report by PA’s political editor David Hughes: Putin’s ‘fascism and tyranny’ equal to Nazis, Ben Wallace says Read more

Updated at 02.38 BST

8 May 2022 23.36 Hello, this is Helen Livingstone taking over from my colleague Vivian Ho to bring you the latest developments from the conflict in Ukraine. “Russia will lose, because evil always loses,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said in his latest nightly address on Sunday, 8 May, when Ukraine marks the end of the second world war with its remembrance and reconciliation day. The main thing I felt today was the world’s even greater willingness to help us. And the fact that we have already achieved a historic result, because it is clear to the whole free world that Ukraine is the party of good in this war. Russia marks its second world war Victory Day on 9 May, Zelenskiy noted, “when peace should be the main word. For all normal people.” But he said, Russia had killed about 60 people in a “targeted” airstrike on a school in Luhansk, while another missile struck a residential building in the Odesa region. There was further shelling in the regions Sumy, the Donbas and Kharkiv. The Russian army would not be itself if it did not kill today - on the eve of certainly important days for any European.

He also thanked Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who along with several other western leaders visited Kyiv on Sunday, saying that they had agreed to expand economic and defence cooperation and Canada had made the “extremely important decision” to remove all barriers to trade for one year. He also said that Canada had “a strong potential in mine clearance” and that “we expect that this potential will be used in Ukraine - where the Russian occupiers left thousands of mines, tripwire mines, shells.”



8 May 2022 23.08 Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, was one of several western leaders who made a surprise visit to Ukraine today. During his visit, he announced that Canada would be providing an additional $50m in military assistance. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy speak before a meeting in Kyiv on Sunday. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters Justin Trudeau and Volodymyr Zelenskiy take part in a video conference involving G7 leaders on Sunday. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters Justin Trudeau and Volodymyr Zelenskiy hold a joint news conference in Kyiv. Photograph: Alexey Furman/Getty Images Justin Trudeau and Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a meeting in Kyiv. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters

Updated at 23.39 BST

8 May 2022 22.29 US first lady Jill Biden met today with Olena Zelenska, wife of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, outside a public school in Uzhhorod. Here are some photos: US first lady Jill Biden meets with Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Uzhhorod. Photograph: Reuters Jill Biden with Olena Zelenska in Uzhhorod.

Photograph: Reuters Jill Biden and Olena Zelenska join a group of children who were making tissue-paper bears to give as Mother’s Day gifts.

Photograph: Reuters

Updated at 22.51 BST

8 May 2022 21.48 60 people confirmed killed at school bombed by Russians Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed late Sunday what many had feared but were hoping would not be true: 60 people who were sheltering in the Bilohorivka school that Russian forces bombed this weekend were killed in the attack. About 90 people had been sheltering in that school at the time of the attack. In news overnight, dozens of people are feared dead after a bomb hit a school in east Ukraine.



About 90 people had been sheltering in the building and 30 were rescued, seven of them wounded, from the rubble of the school in Bilohorivka — Sam Wilkinson (@WilkoSam) May 8, 2022 António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, issued a statement Sunday saying he was “appalled” by the attack on the school. “This attack is yet another reminder that in this war, as in so many other conflicts, it is civilians that pay the highest price,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary-general. Read more here: Sixty killed in Russian airstrike on Ukraine school Read more

Updated at 22.38 BST

8 May 2022 21.26 After today’s successful arrival in Zaporizhzhia, the total number of people evacuated from Azovstal and Mariupol is now more than 600. 🔴BREAKING: 170+ people just arrived in Zaporizhzhia, through a @UNOCHA - @ICRC operation. This bring the total number of people evacuated from Azovstal & Mariupol to more than 600.



The @UN will continue its efforts to reach people in need of assistance. https://t.co/is3FgxReLB pic.twitter.com/EU27DKor72 — OCHA Ukraine (@OCHA_Ukraine) May 8, 2022 I'm relieved to confirm that we managed to bring 174 more people to safety from the hell of Mariupol today.



Our work is not yet done. I don't forget those who've been left behind. pic.twitter.com/D7VpVVAl62 — Osnat Lubrani (@OsnatLubrani) May 8, 2022 Mykhaylo Podolyak, aide to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Twitter that they “won’t stop until we evacuate all our people” from Azovstal. “The life of every defender is sacred to the Ukrainian state,” he said. “Every conversation of the president with the leaders of the world begins with the word ‘Azovstal’,” Podolyak said. “We calculate all formats, and if the history of international law does not know such formats - we offer new ones. We managed to get women and children out of the factory, but we will not stop until we get everyone out.”



8 May 2022 21.14 Kyiv has responded to Berlin police confiscating a Ukrainian flag today in Germany. To recap: with tensions heightened on the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender in World War II, the city of Berlin decided to suppress all public displays of support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine - everything from Russian flags to the beeping of horns at car rallies. Officials included Ukrainian flags under this decision, and earlier today police were filmed confiscating a large flag. Berlin made a mistake by prohibiting Ukrainian symbols. It’s deeply false to treat them equally with Russian symbols. Taking a Ukrainian flag away from peaceful protestors is an attack on everyone who now defends Europe and Germany from Russian aggression with this flag in hands. — Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) May 8, 2022

