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Yevgeny Prigozhin blames Russia for a lack of ammunition and warns that Ukraine is sending its best units to Bakhmut.

The head of Russias Wagner Group said Ukraines counteroffensive will likely start after May 2 as he warned that his mercenary fighters do not have enough ammunition.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Wednesday in an audio message posted to the Telegram app that Ukrainian counterattacks were inevitable and that Kyiv is sending well-trained units to the besieged city of Bakhmut, where bloody battles have raged for months.

But we will advance at any cost, just to grind down the Ukrainian army and disrupt their offensive, he said.

Ukrainian troops will start attacking next month, when the weather improves and the ground hardens, he added.

He also questioned why Russian forces had yet to launch missions to take the nearby cities of Sloviansk or Kramatorsk to relieve pressure on Bakhmut.

Ukraines counteroffensive is expected this spring and in recent weeks, officials in Kyiv have said large-scale attacks could happen at any moment.

On April 11, Prigozhin said more than 80 percent of Bakhmut was controlled by his Wagner forces, which Ukraine has denied.

Kyiv has also downplayed the strategic significance of Bakhmut for Moscow, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly refused to withdraw his forces.

If Moscow successfully takes the city, it would be Russias first major advance since a series of losses in the northeastern Kharkiv and southern Kherson regions last year.

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Ukraines counteroffensive to begin next week, says Wagner boss - Al Jazeera English

Ukrainian forces based on the western side of the Dnipro River are frequently carrying out raids on the eastern bank near the city of Kherson to try to dislodge Russian troops, a regional official said on Tuesday. Yuriy Sobolevskiy, the deputy head of the Kherson regional administration, said the raids were intended to reduce the combat capability of Russian troops who have been shelling Kherson city since being forced to retreat. Our military visit the left [eastern] bank very often, conducting raids. The Ukrainian armed forces are working, and working very effectively, Sobolevskiy told Ukrainian television.

One person has been killed and 10 wounded in a strike on a museum in Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region. Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely. Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.

Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Kharkiv oblast, said: Rescue operations are ongoing at the site of the rocket attack in the center of Kupyansk. Unfortunately, the woman who was under the rubble died. Rescuers have just recovered her body. According to our information, one more person may be under the rubble. Special services are doing everything possible to find her. There are no military facilities near the museum building, which was hit by an enemy S-300 missile. The enemy is deliberately hitting civilian infrastructure and terrorising the civilian population.

The number of daily casualties Russia is suffering has fallen by about 30% in April, UK intelligence has said. In its daily intelligence briefing, the Ministry of Defence reported that the drop was probably due to the end of Russias winter offensive, which, it added, had largely failed. The MoD also said Russia was now likely to be preparing its troops for Ukraines counteroffensive.

Kyiv admitted it was behind a drone attack in the bay of Sevastopol, Ukrainian authorities confirmed. However, officials rejected Russian claims that the attack had put the operation of the grain corridor at risk.

Russia has switched to defensive positions in all its areas of combat apart from Bakhmut, according to the Ukrainian head of intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov. In an interview with RBC Ukraine on Monday, he said: The only places on the frontline where they are making attempts are in the city of Bakhmut, an attempt to cover the city of Avdiivka from the north, and localised fighting in the city of Marinka. Both in Avdiivka and Marinka the tactics are identical to those in Bakhmut just an attempt to wipe the settlement off the face of the Earth.

The UN secretary-general, Antnio Guterres, has proposed to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, a way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, which Moscow has threatened to terminate from 18 May. Russias defence ministry meanwhile accused Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships in the Black Sea, and said this was threatening prospects of extending the deal.

Russias foreign ministry has said it is expelling a Moldovan diplomat in what it cast as retaliation for the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova. The ministry said in a statement it had summoned Moldovas ambassador in Moscow to announce the expulsion, as well as to protest against what it called unfriendly steps towards Russia and regular anti-Russian statements from Chiinu.

Sweden is expelling five Russian diplomats, its foreign minister told public broadcaster SVT on Tuesday.

Lithuanias parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of allowing border guards to turn back migrants who illegally enter the country. Lithuania borders fellow EU states Latvia and Poland, as well as Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. In 2021, Latvia declared a state of emergency and Lithuania began planning a razor-wire fence to stop record numbers of migrants crossing its border from Belarus. Authorities in the two Baltic states and Poland accused the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, of orchestrating the crossings in a form of hybrid warfare.

A former commander in Russias Wagner mercenary group seeking asylum in Norway has pleaded guilty to being involved in a fight outside an Oslo bar and carrying an air gun in public and said he felt very ashamed. Andrei Medvedev, 26, crossed the Russian-Norwegian border in January and has spoken out about his time fighting with Russian invasion forces in Ukraine.

Ukraine has rescued 138 civilians, including its own nationals and citizens of Georgia and Peru, who were trapped by fighting in Sudan, Ukraines military intelligence said.

Britain and Frances sports ministers insisted on Tuesday that Russian and Belarusian athletes must never compete as neutrals as recommended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) because they could still be funded by their governments.

A court in Russia has convicted a former police officer of publicly spreading false information about the countrys military after he criticised the war in Ukraine to his friends over the phone. The ex-officer, Semiel Vedel, was sentenced on Monday to seven years in prison and barred from working in law enforcement for four years after his release.

Risks of a direct military confrontation between the two nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, are steadily growing, the Tass news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Tuesday. Vladimir Yermakov, the foreign ministrys head of nuclear non-proliferation, told the Russian state news agency that Washington was escalating the risks through its conduct with Moscow.

The world may have reached the dangerous, possibly even more dangerous, threshold than it did during the cold war, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the UN security council at a meeting he chaired as part of Russias rotating presidency of the body on Monday. Guterres said the invasion of Ukraine was causing massive suffering and devastation.

A woman charged with killing a pro-war Russian military blogger using explosives was denied bail by a Russian court on Monday. Darya Trepova, 26, is accused of killing Vladen Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin, on 2 April. He was presented with a statuette containing a bomb while giving a talk at a cafe in St Petersburg.

Ukrainian authorities said on Monday that Russian forces were forcibly evacuating civilians in the parts of the Kherson region that they still occupy, a day after it was claimed Ukrainian forces had established a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnipro River. The claim cannot be verified, but it comes amid an apparent increase in Ukrainian military activity in the south of the country which some analysts have interpreted as a potential precursor to Kyivs long-anticipated counteroffensive.

Estonias prime minister, Kaja Kallas, voiced hope that EU membership talks with Kyiv could begin this year, during a visit on Monday to the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr. It will be a hard process and the requirements need to be fulfilled 100%, she said, speaking alongside Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Estonia has been one of Ukraines largest donors per capita and this was Kallass first visit after her party won a landslide victory for her pro-Ukraine platform last month.

South Africas president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said his ruling ANC party has resolved to quit the international criminal court, which last month issued an arrest warrant against Putin. The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March, meaning Pretoria, which is due to host the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit this year, would be required to detain him on arrival.

Two German companies that between them build the Leopard 2 one of the worlds most advanced battle tanks have become embroiled in a legal spat over its intellectual property rights. Rheinmetall AG, which was thrust into the spotlight last year as Germany ramped up its defence spending, is being taken to court by its peer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), with a hearing due at a Munich court on 2 May.

Calls for a boycott of Beefeater Gin have been made after its French wine and spirits owner resumed selling the British brand to Russia. Many companies, in our industry and in others, have made the same choice to maintain a limited presence in the market, a spokesperson for the company, Pernod Ricard, told the Guardian.

It is time for the Nato alliance to stop making excuses and accept Ukraine as a member as the country has demonstrated its readiness and has much to offer, Ukraines foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba said. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Kuleba said the political will of the alliance had been sorely lacking on the issue of admitting Ukraine.

Russian human rights groups have filed complaints to seek the repeal of a law that bans people from speaking out against the countrys invasion of Ukraine, Sky News reported.

Speaking during a news conference at the United Nations, Russias foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the situation related to the Black Sea grain deal had reached a deadlock, adding there were still obstacles blocking Russian exports.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv admits it was behind Sevastopol drone attack as it happened - The Guardian

More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his war of choice against Ukraine, Ukraine continues to fight, and allies and partners continue to support and stand behind the nation, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley said at Ramstein Air Base, Germany today.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III participated in the 11th iteration of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The two men spoke to the news media following the meeting of about 50 nations.

Milley said the Russian president thought he would have an easy time invading Ukraine, toppling its government and incorporating the sovereign nation into Russia. "He thought he could fracture NATO, as he launched an unprovoked war of aggression with hundreds of thousands of Russian forces crossing the border on multiple avenues of approach. He was wrong," the chairman said.

"Ukraine's spirit remains unbroken," he continued. "There are now 31 members of NATO, and NATO is even stronger than ever united in the face of Russia's aggression and attack on the rules-based order."

The United States and the members of the contact group remain committed to supporting Ukraine as a fight for freedom against Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion.

The United States has been one of the leaders of the effort to support Ukraine's fight for its existence. The United States has committed more than $35 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, including millions of tank and artillery rounds, tens of thousands of antitank weapons, and air defense systems. The United States is also supplying tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, logistics vehicles and specialty capabilities to counter drones, Milley said.

The training effort has also been effective and ongoing. Milley noted there are about 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers participating in training in Germany; 8,800 more have completed the training and returned to Ukraine.

Milley said the Ukrainian forces have acquitted themselves well against the far larger Russian forces. He said Russia has continued to expend significant manpower in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut for very little gain. Russia has resorted to launching indiscriminate rockets and shelling of urban areas.

"Russia continues to pay severely for its war of choice," the general said. "Unlike Ukrainian forces who are highly motivated to fight for their country, their freedom, their democracy and their way of life the Russians lack leadership, and they lack will."

Milley said Russian morale is poor and their discipline is eroding. "Russia has resorted to tightening conscription laws as they indiscriminately feed their citizens into the chaos of war," he said. "And, so far, they've been quite ineffective in the coordination or direction of combined arms maneuver on the battlefield."

Even as Russia has lost tens of thousands of service members in battle in Ukraine, even more Russian men have fled their country. "They are trying to avoid fighting in Putin's war," he said.

Russia continues to fail in achieving its strategic objectives. "They failed to seize Kyiv, they failed to topple the Ukrainian government, and they failed to fracture NATO," Milley said. "In fact, they've done just the opposite. Kyiv stands. The people of Ukraine are emboldened, and NATO has never been stronger."

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Milley Says Ukraine Has Leadership, Morale to Beat Russia - Department of Defense

Days after traveling into the heart of a war-torn Ukraine, Brad Paisley isn't sure how to describe what he saw.

Earlier this month, Paisley rode the rain-soaked roads of capital city Kyiv in an armored car. He watched as dog-walking citizens trekked between street blocks. Children in raincoats tossed bookbags across shoulders as they hopped off school buses to return to parents.

As Paisley recalled these images, one word came to mind: Emotional.

"... A reoccurring theme everywhere I went was they [aren't] willing to leave the devastation, because they want to live," said Paisley, a three-time Grammy Award-winning country artist. "They are fixing things as fast as [Russia] blows them up."

He continued, "I'm tellin' ya, that's a very emotional thing, to see that kind of fierce normalcy in the middle of what is a tragic situation. It's defiant life. They are gonna breathe free air at all costs."

Paisley visited Ukraine for twelve hours on April 12, weeks after releasing "Same Here," a country single about what unites humanity in a world often defined by division. Paisley enlisted Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a spoken-word feature on the song; proceeds from the track benefit United24, a non-profit campaign to help rebuild homes in Ukraine. "Same Here" debuted on Feb. 24, the one-year anniversary of Russia invading the country.

On behalf of United24, Paisley traveled to Ukraine with a delegation of bipartisan U.S. Senators: Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mark Kelly (D-Arizona). While visiting St. Michael's Square in Kyiv where the country displays destroyed Russian military equipment Paisley performed "Same Here" and beloved Ukrainian folk song "Chervona Ruta" at a press conference alongside the U.S. delegation.

"[It] was my pleasure to travel with West Virginian and United24 ambassador Brad Paisley and witness his performance that truly lifted the spirits of everyone present," Manchin said in a press statement. "The level of patriotism, professionalism and sheer endurance of the Ukrainian people is inspiring. After this visit, I am even more convinced that defeating Vladimir Putin and ending his ruthless war against the Ukrainian people must remain our top priority."

As with most stories in Nashville, Paisley's trip to Ukraine started with a recording session. Paisley co-wrote "Same Here" last year with hopes of finding a Ukrainian singer to guest on the single. After a few calls, he instead pitched another idea: What if Zelenskyy shared a few words on the song? Zelenskyy's leadership team bought into the idea and after a handful of rescheduled meetings the two connected via Zoom.

On "Same Here," listeners hear a bite of the conversation.

"We speak different languages in our life," Zelenskyy said on the recording. "Yes, but I think we appreciate the same things: Children, freedom, our flag, our soldiers, our people. The biggest treasure we have. And friends. And we're proud of our army who defends our freedom and will defend our lives."

Before the 45-minute meeting ended, Zelenskyy invited Paisley to Ukraine. He needed to see the rebuilding efforts "Same Here" would help fund.

Paisley took the invitation to heart, and weeks later traveled overnight via train from the Polish border to shake hands with the international leader. As he stood on newly repaved street corners leveled by missiles last year, Paisley said he marveled at how quickly Ukrainians rebuilt war-struck buildings and roads.

"One of the things in the middle of the call was, he basically said, 'You need to come over and see our people. To meet these people in this country,'" Paisley said. He added, "He's right. These people are unlike anyone I've ever seen. I don't know where their grit comes from."

During his visit, Paisley exchanged hugs with officials who helped organize the "Same Here" collaboration before shaking hands with Zelenskyy and singing "Chervona Ruta," a communal song about blooming happiness he linked to "Country Roads," the time-tested ode to Paisley's home state, West Virginia.

"I was having a little bit of doubt about whether I should try to sing that," Paisley said. "Is it going to be offensive? Am I going to butcher this language? I probably did. But they certainly were appreciative of the attempt.

And after more than a year of war, he would understand if a bitter, tired congregation greeted Paisley and company. Instead, he met people focused and optimistic about the future of their country.

"The question I asked is how similar are we? And how much do we share, ad far as people go? The answer is limitless," Paisley said. "They want exactly what we have every day, which is the ability to chose your faith. Freedom and democracy and the stability that comes with that."

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Brad Paisley went to Ukraine. Here's what he saw - Tennessean

The program will be rolled out by UNESCO and UNICEF in Ukraine in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science and will provide children and teachers with equipment and tools for distance learning, psychosocial support, teacher training and education sector planning.

Through the GPE Multiplier, the Global Partnership for Education has matched a total of over $25 million in cash and in-kind support from Microsoft, Google and UNESCO, totaling more than $51 million in education assistance for Ukraine. The GPE Multiplier is an innovative financing instrument designed to leverage new sources of funding for education programs aligned to national priorities.

In addition to cash donations from both private sector partners and UNESCO, Microsofts support includes no-cost access to its software for students and teachers for on- and offline use and teacher training on software programs. Googles contribution Includes a donation of 50,000 Chromebooks. This is the first time that private sector partners have provided the necessary co-financing for a country to unlock funding from GPEs multiplier through a combination of cash and in-kind donations.

These contributions will help advance Ukraines existing efforts to ensure the continuity of teaching and learning and digitalize its education system, bridging emergency response and longer-term assistance to help the sector to better withstand the impact of the conflict.

The program implemented by UNESCO will include teacher professional development, mental health and psychosocial support, education planning and management, as well as the procurement and distribution of devices to conflict-affected primary and secondary school-aged learners, including children who have been internally displaced. 6,800 children and more than 60,000 education actors, such as government officials, principals, school psychologists, teachers, parents, and caregivers, will benefit from this program.

The program implemented by UNICEF, will focus on delivering devices and connectivity, expanding digital learning centers, providing catch-up education and access to education materials and will benefit an estimated 350,000 children in southern and eastern Ukraine where the fighting has been the most Intense.

Finland is the coordinating agent for GPE across Ukraine.

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Education in Ukraine: over $51 million in grants and in-kind support ... - UNESCO