Russia-Ukraine updates: Children among deadly air raid victims

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree formally increasing the maximum sentence for treason to life in jail, part of a drive to suppress dissent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The decree was posted on the Kremlin website. Lawmakers had already voted to boost the longest sentences for treason to life, up from 20 years.

Legislators also approved raising the maximum sentence for carrying out “a terrorist act” – defined as a deed which endangered lives and was aimed at destabilising Russia – to 20 years, from 15 years at present.

Those found guilty of sabotage could also go to jail for 20 years, up from 15, while people convicted of “international terrorism” could be sentenced to life, up from 12 years. The decree did not explain what “international terrorism” is.

Russia says such laws are required to protect the country from infiltration by Ukraine and Western intelligence agencies.

The United States is “deeply disappointed” by Russia’s rejection of a US embassy request to visit detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in prison, Department of State deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel has told reporters.

Russia said on Thursday it had rejected the request in response to Washington’s refusal to grant visas to a group of Russian journalists.

Gershkovich was arrested last month and accused of espionage, a charge he has denied. The US has designated him “wrongfully detained”.

Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have agreed a deal to allow the transit of Ukrainian food exports, the European Commission has said, after temporary bans were imposed on the foodstuffs amid farmer protests.

“[The] EU Commission has reached an agreement in principle with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia regarding Ukraine agri-food products,” EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis tweeted.

The deal will see the lifting of “unilateral measures by Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. Exceptional safeguard measures for … wheat, maize, rapeseed, sunflower seed [and] a 100 million euros [$110m] support package for affected farmers in [the] five Member States”.

“We have acted to address concerns of both farmers in neighbouring EU countries and Ukraine.”

The UN has condemned a wave of deadly air raids across Ukraine.

UN acting Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Matthew Hollingsworth said that the indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas must stop.

“It is an important reminder that civilians and civilian infrastructure are protected under international and humanitarian law, and they must never be targeted,” UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Turkish state lender Ziraat Bank may mediate in payments for Russian grain and fertilisers, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said, adding that Ankara was still in negotiations with the deal’s participants.

The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July, allows Ukrainian grain trapped by the conflict to be safely exported from the country’s Black Sea ports.

Despite receiving a letter from the top UN official promoting an extension of a deal that would allow the continued exports of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, the Russian government believes an extension is unlikely.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that Putin had received the letter from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, but said no progress for the Russian side had been made.

Russian fertiliser manufacturers, for example, continue to have problems exporting their goods. Russia complains that the sanctions imposed in the wake of the war in Ukraine are hampering deliveries.

Signing a decree, Russian President Vladimir Putin has excluded “friendly countries” from the ban on Russian oil sales imposed in response to the price caps.

According to the decree, which is stated to have entered into force as of today, “friendly countries” were excluded from the scope of the oil and oil supply ban to countries participating in Russia’s ceiling price application.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance, Kyiv has received a $1.25bn grant from the US, The Kyiv Independent has reported.

According to the ministry, “the money will be used for paying pensions and salaries to Ukrainian emergency and healthcare workers, and social payments, including payments for internally displaced persons,” it reported.

⚡️Ministry: Ukraine receives $1.25 billion grant from US.

According to Ukraine's Financial Ministry, the money will be used for paying pensions and salaries to Ukrainian emergency and healthcare workers, and social payments, including payments for internally displaced persons.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 28, 2023

The war is causing labour shortages in Russia.

Last year’s mass mobilisation affected 300,000 people. Nearly a million more Russians escaped abroad. Now officials say they need at least 600,000 workers to fill the gap.

Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari has more from Moscow.

A Russian missile attack has killed 22 people across Ukraine after two missiles hit an apartment building overnight.

Out of 23 missiles, Ukraine shot down 21 and two drones early on Friday.

The attacks on the nine-storey residential building in central Ukraine occurred in Uman, a city located around 215km (134 miles) south of Kyiv.

Twenty people died in that attack, according to the Interior Ministry.

They included two 10-year-old children and a toddler.

Putin says Russia needs to act quickly to counter what he calls the West’s “economic aggression” and says Moscow would expand ties with countries in Eurasia, Latin America and Africa.

“Today, in the face of the West’s economic aggression, the parliament, the government, all regional and local authorities need to act clearly and quickly work as one cohesive team,” Putin told a meeting of Russian lawmakers.

Milan prosecutors have dropped their investigation of lobbyists who allegedly sought Russian funding for Matteo Salvini’s pro-Moscow party.

The alleged scheme aimed to buy oil at a discount from Rosneft, a Russian energy company, and then sell it at full price to Italian energy giant ENI.

Much of the $64m in hoped-for profit would have allegedly ended up in the League’s coffers, prosecutors had hypothesized.

But Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported that prosecutors concluded that the deal never came to fruition.

The added “total” lack of Russian cooperation with investigators persuaded prosecutors to shelve the investigation.

Salvini, a longtime Putin admirer, was never among those under investigation.

He has long insisted that neither he nor his League party has ever taken “one ruble” from Russians.

For many Ukrainians who grew up only speaking Russian, learning Ukrainian has become a personal way to fight back.

Across the country, reports suggested that 20 percent that identified as Russian speakers before the war are now actively moving away from the language.

Read more on the Ukrainians learning a new mother tongue.

Putin signed a decree giving people living in parts of Russian-controlled Ukraine a path to Russian citizenship, but those who decline or do not legalise their status face potential deportation.

The decree extends to four Ukrainian regions Russia has claimed as its own and partially controls: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.

Those who do not take action to apply for citizenship by July 1 of next year will be regarded as foreign citizens who are at risk of being deported.

The decree also allows the authorities to deport people from the four regions if they threaten Russia’s national security or participate in “unauthorised protests”.

The Kremlin says that troops that fought in Ukraine will be represented in a parade in Moscow on May 9 to mark the anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II, Russia’s state-owned TASS news reported.

“They [fighters of the Northern Military District] will be presented, but in detail this, of course, is up to the Ministry of Defence,” the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“It’s better to wait for the parade itself,” he said.

The holiday is one of the most important in the Russian calendar, usually featuring a huge show of military hardware on Red Square and a speech from Putin.

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 429 of the war.

Keep reading:

• Ukrainians who grew up speaking Russian learn a new mother tongue
• Russian forces pound Ukrainian cities, killing at least 12
• Ukraine has received 98% of promised combat vehicles: NATO chief
• Top US newspapers call for Evan Gershkovich’s release in Russia

A United Nations committee has raised the alarm over alleged Russian rights violations, including enforced disappearances, torture, rape and extrajudicial executions.

“The Committee was deeply concerned about the grave human rights violations committed during the ongoing armed conflict by the Russian Federation’s military forces and private military companies,” the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in a statement.

The committee listed abuses including the excessive use of force, arbitrary detentions, killings and the forcible transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia.

Russia has denied deporting Ukrainian children to Russia, saying it has evacuated them to keep them safe.

The Russian-installed mayor of the occupied city of Donetsk says seven people were killed when Ukrainian shells hit a minibus.

Alexey Kulemzin said on Telegram that Ukrainian forces “hit the hospital, the park and residential buildings. According to preliminary data, seven people died [in the bus attack]. One of them was a child.”

Al Jazeera was unable to verify the claim.

The Russian Ministry of Defence says its forces launched long-range, high-precision strikes overnight on Ukrainian army reserve units and that all designated targets had been hit, the RIA news agency reports.

“The target of the strike was achieved. All designated facilities were struck. The advance of the enemy’s reserves into combat zones was thwarted,” ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing.

While Russia denies targeting civilians, Ukrainian emergency services said at least 16 people, including three children, were killed in the attacks.

Spain’s defence minister, Margarita Robles, says six Leopard 2A4 tanks destined for Ukraine that Spain dispatched this month have arrived in Poland.