Ukraine war latest: Trump ‘demands control’ of Ukraine pipeline carrying Russian gas

A Ukrainian F-16 Viper jet has been killed during a combat mission, Ukraine’s Air Force wrote on Telegram.

26-year-old Pavlo Ivanov is only the second confirmed F-16 loss that Ukraine has faced.

He died in battle on Saturday “defending his native land from the occupiers,” according to a translation.

“All the circumstances of the tragedy are being established by an interdepartmental commission,” Ukraine’s Air Force added.

President Voldymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram: “My condolences to the family and all of Pavel’s brothers-in-arms.

“Ukrainian F-16s, Mirages, MiGs, all of our combat aviation heroically perform military missions, defend our state and support ground operations.

“The Air Force is also involved in protecting Ukraine from Russian missiles and drones.

“We are proud of our warriors. We will respond strongly and correctly. Glory to Ukraine!”

Vladimir Putin’s forces have resumed a more typical strike pattern since late March following a brief spike in the size of Russian long-range strike “packages” which began in mid-February, analysts have said.

While Russian forces notably conducted no strikes against Ukraine on 7 April – the day after conducting their largest strike in over a month – they have since resumed daily strikes, while Russian officials have so far either “refused to engage with or have outright rejected” the US-Ukrainian temporary ceasefire on energy facilities proposed last month, the Institute for the Study of War said.

According to the think-tank, “Russian forces are likely delaying negotiations on a general ceasefire in order to continue making gains along the frontline in Ukraine and continue devastating long-range strikes against Ukrainian defence industrial and civilian areas in order to intimidate civilians and undermine Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against future Russian aggression”.

“Russians are trying to ban everything Ukrainian here: language, and also traditions. Even Ukrainian holidays are forbidden,” said one woman using the pseudonym of Maria, who is a member of an all-female underground resistance group waging a campaign of peaceful resistance against Russia’s occupation, mainly by distributing leaflets and newsletters.

The BBC reported that Ukrainians in occupied areas appear to be denied healthcare and free movement unless they take up Russian citizenship, while Maria said that Russian officials had been installing surveillance systems. She said: “They are putting up a lot of CCTV cameras to control everybody, to find all the activists.”

Maria added: “In city centres, everything is covered with Russian propaganda: billboards with Putin’s face, Putin’s quotes, people they call heroes of the special military operation. There are flags everywhere.”

Germany’s incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned that Ukraine cannot join Nato or the European Union while it is still at war with Russia.

“Ukraine is a very large European country, but it is a European country that is at war,” Mr Merz told Handelsblatt. “A country that is at war cannot become a member of Nato or the European Union.”

“The promise of joining the European Union remains valid, as does the perspective of joining Nato,” Merz said. “But for both of these to happen, the war must end first.”

Russia has suffered 1,220 casualties as 120 combat clashes were reported along the front line on Saturday, the general staff of Ukraine’s military has said.

In its daily update, Ukraine said Russia had launched 135 air strikes, while firing more than 6,600 artillery shells, and deploying more than 2,700 kamikaze drones.

Ukraine also said it had stopped more than 30 Russian attacks in the direction of Pokrovsk, the Donetsk city which remains the focus of Vladimir Putin’s forces and has fuelled the most intense fighting in recent months.

Ukraine’s air defence units intercepted and destroyed 43 drones of 55 launched by Russia overnight targeting northern, southern and central areas of Ukraine, the air force said this moring.

In its post on Telegram, the Ukraine air force did not say what happened to the drones that escaped destruction.

Russian forces are regrouping and preparing for a renewed assault in the Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine’s Operational-Strategic Group of Forces warned over the weekend.

The military group said Russians were actively replenishing their units and getting ready to resume offensive operations in the region.

At least four people were injured after a Russian guided aerial bomb struck a residential house in Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast yesterday.

Russia and Ukraine’s top diplomats yesterday used a high-level conference in Turkey to once again trade accusations of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, underscoring the challenges of negotiating an end to the three-year-long war.

The two foreign ministers spoke at separate events at the annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum, a day after US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss peace prospects. Ukraine’s European allies on Friday promised billions of dollars to help Kyiv keep fighting Russia’s invasion.

While Moscow and Kyiv both agreed in principle last month to implement a limited, 30-day ceasefire, they issued conflicting statements soon after their separate talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia. They differed on the start time of halting strikes, and alleged near-immediate breaches by the other side.

“The Ukrainians have been attacking us from the very beginning, every passing day, maybe with two or three exceptions,” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would provide the US, Turkey and international bodies with a list of Kyiv’s attacks during the past three weeks.

A representative of the Russian foreign ministry separately told state media yesterday that Moscow has been sharing intelligence with the US regarding more than 60 supposed breaches of the deal by Kyiv.