Biden says Ukraine remains free as Putin faces ‘iron will’ of West

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05:20am: Russia's first criminal case against Ukraine's forces goes to court

Russia's first criminal case against a member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, accused of forcibly seizing power and ill-treatment of civilians, went to court, the state TASS news agency reported on Wednesday.

Russia's Investigative Committee said on the Telegram messaging platform in June that it had charged Senior Sergeant Anton Cherednik of the Marine Corps of Ukraine's forces with the alleged crime of cruel treatment of civilian population.

TASS, citing unnamed sources at the Southern District Military Court in Russia's Rostov-on-Don, said that Cherednik was also charged with murder and training for the purpose of carrying out terrorism.

4:07am: Russia rails at UN move on Ukraine

Russia has urged UN states to vote against an "unbalanced and anti-Russian" move at the General Assembly by Ukraine and others to mark one year since Moscow invaded, as China said on Tuesday it could release a "position paper" on the war within days.

The 193-member UN General Assembly is due to vote later this week on a draft resolutions tressing "the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace" in line with the founding United Nations Charter.

Ukraine and its supporters hope to deepen Russia's diplomatic isolation by seeking yes votes from nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly to match - if not better - the support received for several resolutions last year.

10:20pm: Zelensky says Ukrainian forces holding line despite constant 'pressure'

Ukrainian forces are holding the front line in eastern Ukraine despite constant pressure from Russian forces, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in his nightly report on the war.

"It is very important that despite great pressure on our forces, the front line has undergone no change," Zelensky said in a video address.

Zelenskiy said Russian forces were suffering "staggering losses" in Donetsk and Luhansk, due to Ukraine’s constant bombardments.

He also accused Russian forces of "mercilessly killing" civilians in Kherson after six people were killed and 12 more were wounded in the shelling of a market and public transport stop in the southern city.

8:15pm: Zelensky brushes off criticism from Italy's Berlusconi

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy has dismissed criticism from Silvio Berlusconi, an old friend of Russia's Vladimir Putin, saying Italy's ex-prime minister had not had to live under daily bombardment and blackouts caused by Russian air strikes.

The Ukrainian president was asked at a news conference in Kyiv with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni about remarks by Berlusconi earlier this month blaming Zelensky for Russia's invasion. Berlusconi, leader of the conservative Forza Italia party, is part of Meloni's ruling coalition.

"Mr. Berlusconi, it seems to me, has never had his house bombarded with missiles every day. And thank God his partner from the Russian Federation didn't drive a tank into his house and destroy his relatives and close ones," Zelensky said.

Berlusconi's comments have caused embarrassment for Meloni, who has otherwise been steadfast in her support for Ukraine. During the press conference in Kyiv, Zelensky said it was important how the Italian public viewed Russia's invasion and that Ukraine could feel support from Italy.

6:30pm: Putin underestimated Western democracies

In his speech, Biden sought to cast the war in Ukraine has part of a broader tussle between autocrats and democracy, saying Putin had underestimated Western democracies' "iron will".

"(Putin) thought autocrats like himself were tough and leaders of democracy were soft and then he met the iron will of America and nations everywhere that refused to accept a world governed by fear," Biden said.

6:15pm: 'West not plotting to attack Russia,' Biden says

Referring to President Vladimir Putin's speech earlier today, Biden denied the Russian leader's claim that the US planned to attack Russia.

"The West is not plotting to attack Russia as Putin said today. Millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbours are not the enemy," Biden told the crowd gathered outside the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

Biden said Putin could end the war in Ukraine "with a single word", by pulling Russian forces out of Ukraine.

5:55pm: Support for Ukraine will not waiver, Biden says in Warsaw speech

US President Joe Biden said Kyiv stood strong a year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a keynote speech in Poland, a day after making a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital.

"One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv," Biden said at Warsaw's Royal Castle. "I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free."

The US president said Russia's Vladimir Putin had underestimated both Ukraine's resolve and the West's steadfast support for Kyiv.

"Yes we would stand up for sovereignty and we did, yes we would stand up for democracy and we did," he said. "Our support for Ukraine will not waiver, NATO will not be divided."

5:35pm: Poland's Duda urges West to step up support for Ukraine

Poland's President Andrzej Duda has urged leaders of Western countries to stand firm in their support for Ukraine on Tuesday.

"I call on all European states, NATO states, to show solidarity with Ukraine, to provide military support to Ukraine, so that they have something to fight with, do not be afraid to provide this support," Duda said ahead of a speech by US President Joe Biden.

4:40pm: Ukrainians feel ‘sense of achievement'

Ordinary Ukrainians are looking to the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion with growing confidence, says FRANCE 24's chief foreign editor Robert Parsons, reporting from the city of Zaporizhzhia. 

"People feel a sense of achievement first of all, that after one year, they're [...] not just standing up to Russia but pushing them back right across the front," Parsons explained, noting that Ukrainian morale appeared stronger than in recent months. "There's a growing belief that they can win; there's growing trust in the Ukrainian forces," he added.

Parsons noted the collective war effort across Ukraine, from mechanics repairing battle tanks to steel-mill workers producing armoured plates.

"Everybody is engaged in the war effort and from an outsider's perspective, that's what I've noticed most over the last year," he said. "When the war began last year, it was a shock for everybody. They weren't expecting it and it took a while to take in. A lot of people fled the country. Many have of them have come back now and the mood is now really consolidated behind the soldiers on the front line."

04:49

3:35pm: Wagner founder accuses Russian top brass of 'treason'

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group, has accused the Russian defence minister and the chief of the general staff of depriving his fighters of munitions and trying to destroy Wagner – actions he said were equivalent to treason.

A onetime catering entrepreneur who once shunned the public spotlight, Prigozhin has assumed a more public role since the start of the war in Ukraine, with his Wagner Group spearheading Russia's months-long battle for the town of Bakhmut.

"There is simply direct opposition going on," Prigozhin, who has frequently criticised top army officials, said in a voice message posted on his Telegram channel. "This can be equated to high treason," he added.

Prigozhin blamed Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the country's most senior soldier, of deliberately causing the arms shortages, which he blamed for heightened losses among his men.

"The chief of the general staff and the defence minister are giving orders right and left not just not to give Wagner PMC ammunition, but not to help it with air transport," Prigozhin said.

2:50pm: Biden says NATO 'stronger than ever' at start of Warsaw talks

US President Joe Biden has stressed that the Western military alliance is more resilient than ever during a visit to Poland, ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"NATO is stronger than it's ever been," Biden told his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, a day after making a surprise trip to Kyiv.

Duda said Biden's visit signalled Washington's continued commitment to the security of its allies in Europe

"Your visit is an important sign of security, a signal of US responsibility for the security of the world and Europe. America can keep the world order," the Polish president told Biden at the start of bilateral talks in Warsaw.

Biden says NATO stronger than ever

00:14

2:35pm: Ukraine's struggle to recover deported children

The Ukrainian government says Russia has deported more than 16,000 children from territories it occupied in the wake of last year's invasion, including orphans who were taken without the consent of their legal guardians.

In Ukraine, Putin’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, claims to be “saving” displaced or orphaned children but she plays a key role in their forcible removal to Russia. Videos of children arriving in Russia fall in quick succession on her Telegram account.

The forced mass deportation of people during a conflict is classified by international humanitarian law as a war crime.

Ukrainian officials say they have succeeded in bringing back more than 300 children. But as our reporters found out in Kyiv, it's a long and arduous process.

02:26

1:35pm: Russian strikes on Kherson kill at least six, Ukrainian army says

A Ukrainian official said Russian strikes on Tuesday killed at least six people in Kherson, which is still in reach of Moscow's weaponry despite Russia's retreat from the southern Ukrainian city in November.

"Peaceful Kherson residents were injured and killed in the middle of the street, in their homes and at their workplace. At the moment, we know about six dead and 12 wounded," the spokesman for the Ukrainian army's southern command Vladislav Nazarov said.

1:25pm: Italy's Meloni dismisses Putin speech as 'propaganda'

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called a speech delivered on Tuesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin "propaganda" and said she had hoped for something more constructive.

"A part of my heart hoped for some different words, for a step ahead. It was propaganda," Meloni said during a visit to the Ukrainian city of Irpin.

1:18pm: Putin says sanctions creating 'opportunities' for Russian businesses

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lauded the resistance of Moscow's economy in the face of massive international sanctions, touting "opportunities" for local companies.

In an anti-Western speech delivered days before the anniversary of his Ukraine offensive, Putin said sanctions were failing and called on Russian businesses to "be with the motherland".

"The point of our work is not to adapt to current conditions, but to bring our economy to new frontiers," Putin said during his state of the nation address.

1:03pm: NATO's Stoltenberg says concerned China will arm Russia

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg echoed US concerns on Tuesday that China may supply Russia with weapons to help it pursue its war against Ukraine.

"It is President (Vladimir) Putin who started this imperial war of conquest. It is Putin who keeps escalating the war," Stoltenberg said.

"We are also increasingly concerned that China may be planning to provide lethal support for Russia's war."

12:58pm: Moscow demands US withdraw 'soldiers and equipment' from Ukraine

Russia's foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned US ambassador Lynne Tracy to hand her a note demanding that the US withdraw "soldiers and equipment" from Ukraine, a reference to Western military assistance for the country.

"It was noted in particular that in order to deescalate the situation, Washington should take steps to ensure the withdrawal of US-NATO soldiers and equipment and also stop its anti-Russian activities," a statement from the ministry said.

12:45pm: EU climate czar says Putin's war accelerated green transition

Russian President Vladimir Putin unwittingly accelerated the European Union's green transition with his war in Ukraine, with the 27-nation bloc reducing its dependency on Russian fossil fuels and increasing its renewable energy use over the past year, the EU's climate czar said Tuesday.

“The European Union now understands that if we want to increase our energy sovereignty, it can only go through renewables because we have very little gas left, we have almost no coal left, and we have no oil, Frans Timmermans, the commissioner in charge of the European Green Deal, said.

Speaking during an interview with the Associated Press ahead of Friday's one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, Timmermans said Putin completely underestimated the EU's resilience when Moscow cut off most natural gas flows to Europe amid the war, a strategy European leaders have called energy blackmail.

12:02pm: Putin says Russia suspending participation in nuclear treaty

President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday Moscow's suspension of its participation in New START, the last remaining arms control treaty between the world's two main nuclear powers, Russia and the US.

"I have to announce that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START treaty," Putin said in his state of the nation address. "No one should be under the illusion that global strategic parity can be violated."

11:17am: US slams 'absurdity' of Putin's anti-West speech

A top US official on Tuesday described President Vladimir Putin's accusations that Russia had been threatened by the West as justification for invading Ukraine as "absurdity."

"Nobody is attacking Russia. There's a kind of absurdity in the notion that Russia was under some form of military threat from Ukraine or anyone else," White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.

10:35am: More than 8,000 civilians killed since Russia invaded Ukraine, UN says

More than 8,000 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago, the UN Human Rights Office said on Tuesday.

The new toll represents a significant upward revision from the previous tally of 7,199 killed since the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, the UN report said. Around 90 percent of the victims were killed by explosive weapons, it added.

The UN human rights mission in Ukraine, which has dozens of monitors in the country, said it expects the real toll to be "considerably higher" than the official tally since corroboration work is ongoing.

10:25am: Putin vows to press offensive in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed to "systematically" press on with Moscow's offensive in Ukraine, as he gave his state of the nation address.

"Step by step, we will carefully and systematically solve the aims that face us," Putin said ahead of the first anniversary of the military intervention.

10:22am: Putin says West seeks global confrontation with Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Western countries sought to turn the Ukraine conflict into a global confrontation with Russia, and that Russia's existence was at stake.

"They intend to translate the local conflict into a global confrontation, we understand it this way and will react accordingly," Putin told lawmakers.

8:27am: Italy's Meloni heads to Kyiv for talks with Zelensky

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was heading to Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, local media reported.

Meloni, who took office in October, has repeatedly expressed a desire to visit Ukraine to demonstrate her government's support following Russia's invasion almost exactly one year ago.

NATO member Italy has provided cash and weapons to help Ukraine, and earlier this month agreed to send mobile surface-to-air missile systems that it has jointly developed with France.

"Ukraine can certainly count on Italy because we have shown since the start... that we were here (for Kyiv) and we will continue to be here," Meloni said at a press conference in Warsaw on Monday.

7:36am: Putin going to 'come out boxing' in speech

In a state-of-the-nation address expected to focus on the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is "clearly going to come out boxing", said FRANCE 24's Nick Holdsworth.

"He's clearly not very happy about Biden's visit to Kyiv. And they're really building this speech up. I was looking at Russian state TV headlines just now, and they've got a countdown going on. On the main evening news last night, the lead item was a reporter wandering around the venue where Putin is going to speak at noon Moscow time today."

02:14

7am: Biden, after trip to Ukraine, in Poland to meet NATO allies

United States President Joe Biden, fresh from a visit to Kyiv, is expected to tell US allies on Tuesday that the US is totally behind Ukraine on the anniversary of Russia's invasion, and stress American support for NATO's eastern flank.

Biden arrived in Warsaw late on Monday after a surprise visit to Kyiv, where he stood together with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is seeking more weaponry as he gears up for a spring offensive against the Russians.

Biden will meet Polish President Andrzej Duda to discuss collective efforts to support Ukraine and thank Poland for helping the United States and other countries facilitate deliveries of military and humanitarian assistance.

6:43am: Russian court hands down first sabotage verdict since start of Ukraine war

A Russian court sentenced two defendants to three and a half years in a prison colony for plotting to sabotage the railway in a region bordering Ukraine, the first convictions for sabotage since Russia's invasion, media reported on Tuesday.

"According to the criminal intent, such actions would have led to derailment, damage to military and railway equipment, casualties among servicemen," Russia's state-run TASS news agency cited an unidentified source at the court in the Belgorod region as saying.

Their convictions were the first based on the "Sabotage" Article 231 of the Russian Criminal Code since the start of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, the news agency said.

6:41am: China says it's seeking role in Ukraine peace settlement

The foreign minister of China, which has provided strong political backing for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, said Tuesday his country wants to play a role in ending the conflict.

Qin Gang told participants at a security conference in Beijing that China was concerned the almost year-long war could escalate further and spin “out of control”.

China would continue to urge peace talks and provide “Chinese wisdom” to bring about a political settlement, he said.

6:33am: Biden, Putin to give rival speeches ahead of invasion anniversary

Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are set to give duelling speeches on Tuesday that promise two starkly differing takes on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a day after the US president's surprise visit to Kyiv.

Biden met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, pledging fresh arms deliveries and "unwavering" American support, days before the first anniversary of Russian tanks rolling over the border.

"One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands," he said at the Mariinsky Palace, the Ukrainian president's official residence.

5:10am: China says certain countries must stop 'fuelling the fire' in Ukraine conflict

China is "deeply worried" that the Ukraine conflict could spiral out of control, China's foreign minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday, and called on certain countries to stop "fuelling the fire".

Beijing, which last year struck a "no limits" partnership with Moscow, has refrained from condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The United States has warned of consequences if China provides military support to Russia, which Beijing says it is not doing.

"We urge certain countries to immediately stop fuelling the fire," Qin said during a speech, referring to the Ukraine conflict and in comments that appeared to be directed at the United States.

"We stand firmly against any form of hegemony, against any foreign interference in China's affairs," he said.

Qin also warned other countries to "stop hyping up the discourse of Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow", in an apparent reference to concerns that China is preparing to make good on its threats to use force to assert its claim to sovereignty over Taiwan.

Also on Tuesday, China released a paper on the Global Security Initiative (GSI), President Xi Jinping's flagship security proposal which aims to uphold the principle of "indivisible security", a concept endorsed by Russia.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)