🔴 Live: Russian opposition ex-mayor goes on trial after criticising Ukraine war

Issued on: 26/04/2023 – 09:34

11:19am: Melitopol a likely target for a Ukrainian spring offensive

The plans for a Ukrainian counter-offensive are top secret but a likely first target is Melitopol, the largest occupied city in Zaporizhzhia region. It was just outside Orihiv, a little over a year ago, that the Russian offensive in Zaporizhzhia region was stopped but the shelling has never stopped since then. FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Ukraine Gulliver Cragg reports after spending time with the remaining adults of the city. 

11:12am: Poland will keep ban on Ukrainian grain until year-end, minister says

Poland will keep in place an embargo on the import of Ukrainian grains at least until the end of the year, Development Minister Waldemar Buda said on Wednesday as the European Union works on a deal to end unilateral bans introduced by some countries.

Some central European countries, which became transit routes for Ukrainian grain that could not be exported through Black Sea ports because of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, banned imports of some food products from Ukraine this month to protect local farmers.

“We will not repeal our measures until similar measures are introduced at the European level. Time plays in our favour. We will keep Polish solutions until the situation stabilizes,” Buda told the private Radio Zet.

Asked whether the embargo could be lifted at the end of June, he said it was “absolutely impossible” and that in Poland the ban would “for sure” remain in place until the end of the year.

10:42am: Russia’s Navalny slams ‘absurd’ latest case against him

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny denounced on Wednesday extremism charges against him as his team says authorities are preparing a major new trial against him.

“They have brought absurd charges against me, according to which I am facing up to 35 years,” Navalny said, appearing via video link at a pre-trial hearing.

9:55am: According to a Russian investigator, 11 people are on ‘international wanted list’ over Navalny case

A Russian investigator said that 11 people have been put on an “international wanted list” in a case related to jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny, TASS said on Wednesday.

9:17am: Russian opposition ex-mayor on trial over Ukraine criticism

Yevgeny Roizman, a prominent Kremlin critic and popular former mayor, went on trial on Wednesday over accusations of discrediting the Russian army over the Ukraine offensive.

In 2013, Roizman, 60, became Russia’s highest-profile opposition mayor and held the position in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg for five years. 

He is Russia’s last prominent opposition figure who is still in the country and not behind bars. 

Roizman, who openly denounces President Vladimir Putin and his offensive in Ukraine, has said he knows he could go to prison at any moment. He is a hugely popular figure in Yekaterinburg and beyond and a friend of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

01:54

9:06am: Russian military aircraft intercepted over Baltic Sea, says Germany

Germany and Britain intercepted three Russian military reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea, the German air force said on Wednesday.

“Reconnaissance flights intercepted. German and British Eurofighters were alerted to identify three military aircraft. The two SU-27 Flankers and a IL-20 from Russia were flying again without transponder signals in international airspace over the Baltic Sea,” said the air force on Twitter.

As a NATO member, Germany participates in monitoring the air space over the Baltic states.

Security has been heightened for the Baltic states after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. 

Russian military jets have repeatedly strayed into the airspace over the Baltic Sea in recent months.

• Key developments from Tuesday, April 25

A Russian missile hit a museum building in the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, in the Kharkiv region, on Tuesday, killing at least two people, wounding around 10 people and burying others under the rubble.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Moscow’s “barbaric methods” and said Russia was trying to erase Ukraine’s history and culture.

Meanwhile Russian 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.

The pact was renewed for 60 days last month, but Russia has signalled it may well not agree to extend it further unless the West removes obstacles to the exports of Russian grain and fertiliser.

And Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his government would seek the “complete transformation” of six towns that have been badly damaged in Russia’s full-scale invasion under a reconstruction programme.

Shmyhal said the towns of Borodianka and Moshchun near the capital Kyiv, Yahidine in the north, Trostianets and Tsyrkuny in the east, and Posad-Pokrovske in the south would be rebuilt “comprehensively and according to new principles” under an experimental programme.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)