Ukraine war live updates: Kremlin warns escalation in Middle East is ‘in no one’s interests’ but won’t condemn ally Iran’s attack

A Russian military court handed down a 14-year sentence to a man it found guilty of cooperating with a foreign state and “justifying terrorism,” Russian media reported on Monday.

Investigators initially accused Vladlen Menshikov, 29, of attempting to sabotage railway lines carrying military equipment near his hometown of Rezh, a small village near the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, the Vecherniye Vedomosti newspaper said.

He was later charged with the two other counts and the attempted sabotage charge was dropped, the newspaper said, citing documents from the Yekaterinburg military court.

It said Menshikov was suspected of receiving instructions from the Freedom of Russia Legion, a Ukrainian-based paramilitary group of Russians who oppose President Vladimir Putin and who have claimed responsibility for cross-border attacks into Russian territory.

Russian officials have linked pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups with numerous attacks on railways aimed at disrupting supplies to the war front in Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began more than two years ago.

Ukraine’s domestic spy agency has also been accused of detonating explosives on railway lines inside Russia

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, detained Menshikov in September 2022 at St Petersburg airport while he was trying to board a flight to Belarus, Vecherniye Vedomosti said. The newspaper did not say if Menshikov intended to appeal.

— Reuters

The Kremlin said Monday that it’s extremely concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, saying that diplomacy should be used to resolve disagreements between Israel and Iran.

“We are extremely concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region, we call on all countries in the region to show restraint. Further escalation is in no one’s interests,” Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, news agency RIA Novosti reported.

“Therefore, of course, we advocate that all disagreements be resolved exclusively by political and diplomatic methods,” Peskov told reporters.

Russia will be wary of any further attacks following Iran’s retaliatory drone and missile attack on Israel on Saturday. Russia is closely allied with Iran on an economic and military level and war with the Middle East would weaken that partnership; Moscow could also see its influence and assets in the wider region destabilized if a wider conflict erupts.

— Holly Ellyatt

Swathes of northern Kazakhstan and Russia’s Urals region were flooded on Monday as melt waters swelled the tributaries of the world’s seventh longest river system, forcing more than 125,000 people to flee their homes.

Russia’s southern Ural region and northern Kazakhstan have been grappling with the worst flooding in living memory after very large snow falls melted swiftly amid heavy rain over land already waterlogged before winter.

That has swelled the tributaries of the Ob, which rises in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia and empties into the Arctic Ocean, beyond bursting point, leaving some cities in Russia and Kazakhstan under water.

Several districts of the northern Kazakh city of Petropavlovsk were completely flooded, said a Reuters journalist in the city, which sits on the Ishim River, a tributary of the Irtysh, the chief tributary of the Ob.

Almost 1,000 houses have been flooded in the North Kazakhstan region of which Petropavlovsk is the center, and over 5,000 people have been evacuated, local officials said. There have been interruptions in power and water supply in the city.

People were queuing up in front of water trucks moving from one neighbourhood to another in the city. The main reservoir supplying the city with drinkable water has been flooded.

Just a few hundred kilometres over the border, Russia’s Kurgan, a region of 800,000 people at the confluence of the Ural mountains and Siberia, was grappling with flooding and rising water levels in the Tobol River, another tributary of the Irtysh.

— Reuters

Ukraine’s military chief said Russian forces are aiming to capture the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk by May 9, the date on which Russia commemorates Soviet victory in World War II.

Chasiv Yar lies west of Bakhmut, a town reduced to rubble but finally captured by Russian forces last May after months of fighting. Capturing the town would give Russia another strategic gain in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a war hot spot, and could allow it to advance on industrial hub Kramatorsk.

“The higher Russian military leadership has set the task for its troops to capture Chasiv Yar by May 9,” Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said on Telegram, without presenting evidence for his claim.

Syrskyi said he had responded to Russian operations to seize Chasiv Yar by strengthening defensive positions and strengthening brigades with ammunition, drones, and electronic warfare devices.

On Saturday, Syrskyi posted on Telegram that the situation on the eastern front had “significantly worsened in recent days.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday condemned the Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel and said both Israel and Ukraine need help from allies.

“Ukraine condemns Iran’s attack on Israel using ‘Shahed’ drones and missiles. We in Ukraine know very well the horror of similar attacks by Russia, which uses the same “Shahed” drones and Russian missiles, the same tactics of mass air strikes,” he said on social media platform X.

“Iran’s actions threaten the entire region and the world, just as Russia’s actions threaten a larger conflict, and the obvious collaboration between the two regimes in spreading terror must face a resolute and united response from the world,” Zelenskyy said.

The attack on Israel has raised expectations that Congress could move sooner to approve a multibillion dollar aid package for Ukraine and Israel that has been blocked by Republicans in recent months.

Mike Johnson, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said Sunday that he would try to secure passage of aid to Israel this week but did not say whether the legislation would include aid for Ukraine, Reuters reported.

“The world cannot wait for discussions to go on,” Zelenskyy said. “Words do not stop drones and do not intercept missiles. Only tangible assistance does. The assistance we are anticipating … It is critical that the United States Congress make the necessary decisions to strengthen America’s allies at this critical time,” he said.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson slammed Israel following Iran’s massive drone and missile attack on the country on Saturday, saying Israel had not shown any solidarity or sympathy for Moscow when its territory was attacked by Ukraine.

Israeli Ambassador to Russia Simona Halperin was reported by news agency RIA Novosti as stating Sunday that Israel expected Russia to condemn Iran’s large-scale missile attack on the country this weekend.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova rebuked the ambassador, however, noting, “Simona, remind me when was the last time that Israel condemned at least one of Kiev’s attacks on Russian regions? You can’t recall that, can you? Neither can I,” she said.

“What I do recall are routine statements by Israeli officials in support of Zelensky’s actions. The very same criminal and terrorist actions committed by the thugs from Ukraine’s Presidential Office that have for years been killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure,” Zakharova said.

Russia and Israel used to enjoy warm diplomatic relations, but those have become frayed as Moscow has grown closer to Israel’s archenemy Iran — and as Israel has backed its Western allies’ condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — although it has not joined its partners in imposing sanctions on Russia.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday expressed “extreme concern over another dangerous escalation” in the Middle East following Iran’s missile and drone strike on Israel.

“We express our extreme concern at yet another dangerous escalation in the region. We have repeatedly warned that the numerous unresolved crises in the Middle East, primarily in the area of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which are often fueled by irresponsible provocative actions, will exacerbate tensions,” the foreign ministry said on Telegram.

“We call on all parties involved in the conflict to exercise restraint. We expect the regional states to resolve the existing problems through political and diplomatic means. We believe it is important for the constructively-minded international players to contribute to this effort,” it added.

Israel has vowed to retaliate for the Iranian strike, which was carried out to avenge an alleged Israeli airstrike that killed several top Iranian commanders in Damascus earlier in April.

Russia did not condemn Iran’s attack, repeating Iran’s assertion that the attack was “undertaken as part of the right to self-defence.”

An all-out war between Israel and Iran could drag Russia into its orbit, given its close relationship with Tehran. Russia has become a close ally of Iran, with the countries developing a deeper military relationship in recent years, and with Russia using thousands of Iranian-made attack drones in Ukraine.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s military chief warned Saturday that the battlefield situation in the east of the country, which continues to be the epicenter of the fiercest fighting in Ukraine, has deteriorated sharply.

“The situation on the eastern front has significantly worsened in recent days,” Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said on Telegram.

“This is primarily due to the significant intensification of enemy offensive actions following the presidential elections in the Russian Federation,” he added, in comments translated by NBC News.

Syrskyi said warm, dry weather had facilitated Russian forces’ attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Lyman and Bakhmut areas of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, with Russian “assault groups supported by armored vehicles,” including dozens of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

“Despite significant losses, the enemy is increasing efforts by deploying new units with armored vehicles, occasionally achieving tactical success,” Syrsyki said.

Read more here: Situation on eastern front has ‘significantly worsened’ in recent days, Ukraine’s army chief warns

— Holly Ellyatt