Russia Ukraine war latest: Vladimir Putin gets warning from Sunak as G7 vows more Russian sanctions

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has issued a stark warning to president Vladimir Putin as Group of Seven (G7) leaders gather in Japan.

Mr Sunak told the BBC he hopes to “ensure that Russia pays a price for its illegal activity,” hours after the UK announced a ban on imports of Russian diamonds.

In an interview with Sky News, the prime minister also told the Russian president: “We’re not going away,”

“Russia needs to know that we and other countries are steadfast in our resolve to support Ukraine, not just in the here and now with the resources it needs to protect itself, but for the long term as well,” he said.

He added to ITV News: “They can’t just outlast us in this conflict.

“One of the common topics of conversation I’ll be having and have been having with my fellow leaders is about the longer-term security agreements that we put in place in Ukraine, to deter future Russian aggression.”

Mr Sunak said he believes other G7 nations will follow suit, and ban Russian diamonds and imports of metals from Russia including copper, aluminium and nickel.

The diamond export industry was worth more than £3 billion to Russia in 2021, but No 10 conceded direct imports have been low since the UK sanctioned state-owned miners Alrosa last year.

The G7 are set to unleash new sanctions against Russia in an effort to make Moscow end the war in Ukraine.

The UK is also preparing new individual sanctions against 86 people and companies to apply further pressure on the Russian president and his supporters.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Hiroshima, Japan, on Sunday to join the leaders of the world’s advanced democracies at the G7 summit, Reuters reported, citing a European Union source.

Mr Sunak’s official spokesman said: “Guarding against economic coercion is something that the Prime Minister is pushing for.”

Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Friday that the city of Bakhmut was unlikely to fall to his mercenary forces in the next two days.

The Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is in ruins after months of intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

“Bakhmut has still not been taken,” Prigozhin said in a voice message posted on Telegram. “Bakhmut is unlikely to be taken either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“There is a quarter known as the ‘Airplane’ – it is like an impregnable fortress from a bed of multi-storey buildings in the southwest of Bakhmut, where incredibly heavy battles are going on.”

Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut since last summer in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war, but Ukrainian defenders have held out.

If Russia took the city, it would provide a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities it has long coveted in the Donetsk region: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin will visit China on May 23-24, where he will meet Chinese president Xi Jinping, the Russian government announced on Friday.

Russian metals producer Severstal said on Friday that British sanctions against it will not affect the company, the TASS news agency reported.

Russian military forces have been enhancing defensive positions in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine in recent weeks, four witnesses said, ahead of an expected counteroffensive in the region.

New trenches have been dug around the city and more mines have been laid. Surveillance cameras at the plant are pointing north across a wide reservoir towards Ukrainian-controlled territory.

The Russians have had firing positions set up atop some of the plant’s buildings for several months. Nets have been erected in a possible deterrent to drones.

The measures described by two Ukrainians who work at the power plant and two other residents in the city of Enerhodar underline the risks the war poses to the security of the facility.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for their safety in a city under Russian occupation.

The Ukrainian military intelligence agency, the Russian defence ministry and Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom did not respond to requests for comment on fortifications at Enerhodar and the security risks the counteroffensive may pose.

Some nuclear industry experts said they were alarmed and warned that any damage to the plant could have dire consequences for people, the surrounding area, the war and the global nuclear industry.

“Nuclear reactors were not designed for war zones and I do not believe they can be safe or secure in a war zone,” said Nickolas Roth, director at think tank the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

Petro Kotin, chief of Ukraine’s Energoatom nuclear agency, told Reuters he did not believe Ukrainian forces would stage an attack directly on the site and could instead try to force the Russians to retreat by cutting off supply lines.

But there is concern in the international community that the six-reactor nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, could be caught up in fighting, particularly as military analysts expect Ukraine to try to push Russian forces back in Zaporizhzhia region.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog says that the military presence and activity is growing in the region, underlining the need for urgent action. It has warned for months of the danger of a major accident at the plant.

The agency plans to present a deal between Russia and Ukraine to the U.N. Security Council later this month to protect the facility, four diplomats told Reuters.

Britain announced a new wave of sanctions against Russia on Friday, targeting companies connected to the theft of Ukrainian grain and those involved in the shipment of Russian energy.

Along with the United States, Britain and the rest of the Group of Seven major economies are set to unveil sanctions and export controls targeting Russia over its war against Ukraine, at the G7 summit in Japan this weekend.

Britain said in a statement that it was sanctioning 86 individuals and entities as part of a new crackdown on what it called “shady individuals and entities” connected to the theft and resale of Ukrainian grain.

The sanctions would also target Russia’s major energy and arms shipping companies, including those connected to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, and the owner of the Russian Copper Company, Igor Altushkin.

Ukrainian air defence repelled another Russian air attack early on Friday morning, destroying 19 drones and missiles out of 28 launched, Ukrainian military said.

“Three calibre missiles launched from the Black Sea and 16 drones were shot down. Shelling continues on an almost daily basis,” Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television.

“Not all targets were hit,” he added.

Russia has increased the number of missile and drone attacks this month, which Kyiv attributes to Moscow’s fear of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Ukrainian authorities do not report hits on critical infrastructure or military facilities.

Britain is banning Russian diamonds in a new wave of sanctions to pressure Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine as Rishi Sunak warns allies against complacency at the G7 summit in Japan.

The prime minister announced the new measures against Russia, also including a prohibition on imports of Russian-origin copper, aluminium and nickel, on the eve of the meeting in Hiroshima yesterday.

Having signed a new defence and security pact with Tokyo, Mr Sunak will visit the atomic bomb dome ruin with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, to reflect on the nuclear devastation in the Second World War.

For months, Western allies have shipped billions of dollars worth of weapons systems and ammunition to Ukraine with an urgency to get the supplies to Kyiv in time for an anticipated spring counteroffensive.

Now summer is just weeks away.

While Russia and Ukraine are focused on an intense battle for Bakhmut, the Ukrainian spring offensive has yet to begin.

Last week Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensyy said it’s been delayed because his country lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties. Weather and training are playing a role too, officials and defense experts say.

Officials insist the counteroffensive is coming. Preliminary moves by Ukraine to set the conditions it wants for an attack have already begun, a US official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Vladimir Putin has shot down concerns of his own finance minister who acknowledged “a problem” with Russia’s energy revenues, underscoring the damage done by Western sanctions to its economy.

In a televised meeting chaired by President Putin through a video link, Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday that Russia’s revenues from oil and gas have taken a hit, blaming deep discounts offered to countries following the Ukraine invasion.

“Russia’s non-energy revenues are on track for growth as planned, with the potential for a small surplus by year-end, but there is a problem with energy revenues,” said Mr Siluanov.