The United States has been pushing its allies to provide Ukraine with heavy weapons © AFP / Yasuyoshi CHIBA
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP), Apr 27 – Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– Russia turns off gas to Poland and Bulgaria –
Russia’s Gazprom halts gas shipments to Poland and Bulgaria for refusing to pay in rubles but the EU steps in quickly to fulfill their energy needs.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki calls Russia’s move a “direct attack” on his country and assures Poland will no longer need Russian gas from this autumn.
Bulgaria is almost completely dependent on Russia for gas.
The Kremlin blames the situation on actions taken against Russia by “unfriendly countries”, referring to Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine invasion which have left Russia unable to use a large chunk of its foreign currency reserves.
Announcing that a workaround had been found, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says: “Today, the Kremlin failed once again in its attempt to sow division among member states. The era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe is coming to an end.”
– EU warns against rubles payments –
Von der Leyen warns EU members against giving in to Moscow’s demands for rubles payments, unless their contract is denominated in rubles, amid reports some customers have already done so.
“This would be a breach of the (EU) sanctions, so a high risk for the companies,” she says, adding that “about 97 percent” of all EU contracts explicitly stipulate payments in euros or dollars.
– Russia, US prisoner swap –
Despite the tensions over Ukraine, Russia and the United States announce a prisoner swap, with Moscow handing over jailed ex-Marine Trevor Reed in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot convicted of drug smuggling.
Reed’s father tells CNN that the swap took place in Turkey.
“The American plane pulled up next to the Russian plane and they walked both prisoners across at the same time like you see in the movies,” he relates.
– New tensions on Snake Island –
Kyiv says its troops struck Russian positions on the Black Sea’s Snake Island, which gained notoriety when Ukrainian soldiers deployed there rebuffed demands to surrender at the outset of the Russian invasion.
This small island became a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance after a radio exchange, in which Ukrainian soldiers told the crew of a Russian warship to “go fuck yourself”, went viral.
– Western arms supplies hit –
Russia claims its missiles have taken out a “large batch” of Western-supplied weapons and ammunition being stored at an aluminium plant in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
The US and Britain have been urging allies to send more heavy weapons to Ukraine to sway the conflict.
On Tuesday, Germany announced it planned to send anti-aircraft tanks.
– Eastern villages fall –
Ukraine says Russian forces have captured four eastern villages, two in the Kharkiv administrative area and two in Donbas administrative area, as part of Moscow’s offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
Russia aims to create a land bridge between territory held by pro-Russian separatists in parts of the Donbas and the Russian-annexed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.
– Moldova unrest –
Pro-Russian separatists in Moldova claim shots were fired across the border from western Ukraine towards a village housing a Russian arms depot in the breakaway Transnistria region.
Transnistria’s interior ministry also says drones overflew the village of Kolbasna, known as Cobasna in Romanian.
There are growing fears that Moscow-backed Transnistria could be drawn into the war in Ukraine.
Transnistria’s leadership has accused Ukraine of a series of attacks on state infrastructure. Kyiv has accused Russia of staging the attacks.
