Foreign secretary Liz Truss has accused Russia’s Vladimir Putin of “weaponising hunger” and using food security as a “callous tool of war” by blocking millions of tonnes of grain leaving Ukrainian ports.

Ashley Cowburn relatórios.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine‘s formal candidature to join the European Union was a big step towards strengthening Europe.

Zelenskiy told EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday that their decision to accept Kyiv’s candidacy was among the most important for Ukraine since it broke from the Soviet Union 31 anos atrás.

“But this decision is not just being made for the benefit of Ukraine. It is the biggest step towards strengthening Europe that could have been made right now, in our time, and when the Russian war is testing our ability to preserve freedom and unity," ele disse.

European Council chief Charles Michel tweeted after the decision: “A historic moment”, adding “Our future is together.”

The approval of Kyiv’s EU candidacy will anger Russia, which has been concerned with Ukraine‘s closer ties with the West.

Four people were killed on early Friday after a Russian military cargo plane crashed in Moscow’s western city Ryazan.

The plane — II-76 military cargo aircraft — crashed and caught fire while trying to make a landing the Russian city.

Five people were hospitalised with injuries, state news agency RIA disse.

The Interfax news agency separately quoted Russia’s defence ministry as saying the plane had suffered an engine malfunction while on a training flight. The ministry gave no details of crew deaths.

Thomas Kingsley relatórios.

The Ukrainian soldiers embedded in the key Donbas city Sievierodonetsk will “have to be withdrawn” from the battle-marred region, Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said on Friday.

Ele adicionou: “Remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many months just for the sake of staying there does not make sense.”

Ukrainian fighters have countered and repelled an attack by Russian soldiers in Donbas’s Lysychansk which was the last city in Sievierodonetsk under Kyiv’s control, the regional governor Serhiy Haidai said on Friday.

Contudo, Russia has managed to wrest control of a key village named Mykolaivka which is near a critical highyway to Lysychansk.

The Ukrainian city in Sievierodonetsk has been the scene of heavy fighting in the last month, as Russia shifted its focus to capturing the separatist territories in the country’s east.

Mr Haidai said that the battle has continued to rage in the twin city of Sievierodonetsk.

Boris Johnson has said that pressurising Ukraine into accepting a “bad peace” deal would be a “disaster” as he warned Nato allies on the ongoing siege in Europe.

“Now is not the time to settle and encourage the Ukrainians to settle for a bad peace, for a peace by which they are invited to give up chunks of their territory in return for a ceasefire,” Mr Johnson said on Thursday.

Ele adicionou: “But I think they are going to win. I know they are going to win. It is their country. They are fighting for it desperately hard,” he told reporters travelling with him in Kigali.”

The British PM said that there is “no question there is a lot of Ukraine fatigue now in the world”. He is at a summit of Commonwealth leaders in Rwanda ahead of talks with G7 and Nato allies in Europe.

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At least three people were killed on early Friday after a Russian military cargo plane crashed in Moscow’s western city Ryazan.

The plane — II-76 military cargo aircraft — crashed and caught fire while trying to make a landing the Russian city.

Of the total nine onboard, three have been confirmed dead, reported Russian Interfax news agency.

Russian defence ministry said that the cargo aircraft had suffered an engine malfunction while on a training flight.

Ireland’s premier Taoiseach Michael Martin said that Europe is sending out a message of solidarity by announcing the status of EU candidate for Ukraine.

“Today the European Union is sending a message of solidarity to the people of Ukraine that you belong to the European family,” Mr Martin said.

The Irish premier was talking in Brussels ahead of the European Council meeting in which Ukraine, along with Moldova, qualified for the candidate status for future EU membership.

“It’s historic in the sense of the enlargement of the European Union and I’m particularly pleased as a long-standing advocate for Ukraine’s application to candidate status to become a member of the European Union," ele disse.

Ele adicionou: “It’s very significant for Ukraine, very significant for Moldova and, indeed, Georgia, in terms of European perspective.”

Officials from the Ukrainian military said that the Russian forces are trying to wrestle for control of a key highway in the war-struck country’s east as they are eyeing snapping the supply lines of artillery.

The Russians are trying to overtake the hills overlooking the highway linking Lysychansk with Bakhmut, to the southwest, the military officials said.

It is a critical route of supply line to the Ukrainian forces on the eastern frontline.

The Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway was not used because of heavy Russian shelling, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said.

He added that the Ukrainian forces are receiving supplies via an alternative route.

European leaders last night formally accepted Ukraine as a candidate to join the EU, a bold geopolitical move triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but a reminder that the 27-nation bloc will need a major overhaul as it looks to enlarge again.

Although it could take Ukraine and neighbouring Moldova more than a decade to qualify for membership, the decision at a two-day EU summit is a symbolic step that signals the bloc’s intention to reach deep into the former Soviet Union.

“A historic moment,” European Council chief Charles Michel tweeted. “Today marks a crucial step on your path towards the EU,” ele disse, adicionando: “Our future is together.”

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