Ukraine war news latest: Truss to hold talks on Britons facing death sentence from Russia

Russia must “take responsibility” for the invasion of Ukraine and for the “sham” trials held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, minister Robin Walker has said.

He also said that the UK will continue to support Ukraine while making the case for two Britons sentenced to death for fighting Russian forces.

He told Times Radio: “I think we need to do everything we can at a diplomatic level to make representations to Russia, to show our support to Ukraine, but also to show our support to the families of these people, and I understand that’s what my colleagues at the foreign office are doing.

“I don’t think this should make any difference to our overall support to Ukraine and continuing to provide material support to a democracy defending itself from unprovoked aggression.”

He added: “We have to be very clear who is responsible for this – both for the illegal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and for this sham trial by a government which don’t have authority, and that’s of course Russia.

“Russia needs to take responsibility, its responsibilities under the Geneva Convention, for the treatment of prisoners of war.”

The case of the two Britons sentenced to death for fighting Russian forces will raised by Liz Truss during talks with her Ukrainian counterpart today.

Aiden Aslin, 28, from Nottinghamshire, Shaun Pinner, 48, from Bedfordshire, and Brahim Saadoun, from Morocco, were captured earlier in the war. A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic handed down death sentences on Thursday.

The foreign secretary has called it a “sham judgement”, insisting it has “absolutely no legitimacy”.

According to the BBC, Ms Truss will speak with Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba regarding the captured pair later on Friday.

No 10 has said the men are entitled to combatant immunity as prisoners of war.

The foreign secretary said: “I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine.

“They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.

“My thoughts are with the families. We continue to do everything we can to support them.”

Companies who have withdrawn from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine will regret it, president Vladimir Putin has said.

He told the state-owned news channel Russia-24: “In today’s conditions, when some (companies) have jumped off or left, preferred to cease operations here – they’ll regret it.

“That’s not a threat. They’ll regret it not because we’re threatening them – we’re in fact we’re not threatening anyone – they’ll regret it because Russia is a country with enormous opportunities.

“It really is,” he concluded, according to a translation of his remarks by BBC Monitoring.

“All diplomatic channels” will be used by the UK government to raise the case of the two Britons sentenced to death for fighting Russian forces, minister Robin Walker has said.

He told Sky News: “As the foreign secretary has made clear, we will offer all support we can to them and their families.

“We have been absolutely clear throughout that these people should be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention, there is no basis on which they can be put on trial.

“This is an illegal court in a sham government that has held this trial and obviously we don’t recognise it has any authority, but we will continue to use all diplomatic channels to make the case that these are prisoners of war who should be treated accordingly.”

He added: “We utterly condemn the approach that’s been taken here and we will use every method at our disposal to take this issue up.”

Since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, his eyes have been on Odesa, the “pearl of the Black Sea” that is crucially Ukraine’s biggest commercial port, a supply lifeline, and the predominantly Russian-speaking gateway to the north and west, writes Bel Trew.

A successful takeover of the city would not only be a symbolic and economic catastrophe for Ukraine – likely causing a domino effect that could hasten the fall of much of the country – but it could have an impact on the world. Many fear it could also form a land bridge to Russian-backed separatist areas in neighbouring Moldova.

Under siege for 107 days, Ukraine is running out of all weapons and now counting on western nations to fight Russia, the country’s deputy head of military intelligence has said.

Calling it now an artillery war, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence Vadym Skibitsky has said that the country’s frontiers is where the future will now be decided, adding that “we are losing in terms of artillery”, reported The Guardian.

“Everything now depends on what [the west] gives us,” he said.

“Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces. Our western partners have given us about 10% of what they have,” Mr Skibitsky said.

Despite capturing territories in Ukraine and separatist regions, Russia is struggling to provide basic public services to people in the held areas, the British defence ministry said on Friday.

“Russia is struggling to provide basic public services to the population in Russian-occupied territories. Access to safe drinking water has been inconsistent, while major disruption to telephone and internet services continues,” the British MoD said in its latest intelligence update.

It added that the fighting continues around Sieverodonetsk. “Russia is again in control of most of the city, but its forces have made little progress in attempts to encircle the wider area from the north and south,” the ministry said in an update about key centre of fight in Ukraine.

The ministry added that Russia’s inefficiency in public services is also visible in Mariupol which under Russian control is at the risk of major disease outbreak.

“There is likely a critical shortage of medicines in Kherson, while Mariupol is at risk of a major cholera outbreak. Isolated cases of cholera have been reported since May,” the ministry said.

It added that the European country had suffered a major cholera epidemic in 1995, and “has experienced minor outbreaks since, especially around the Azov Sea coast – which includes Mariupol.”

Medical services in Mariupol are likely already near collapse: a major cholera outbreak in Mariupol will exacerbate this further.

The Ukrainian general staff has said that Russian unit in Kharkiv has put down their arms and refuse to fight.

All members of the Russian motorised infantry unit of the First Army Corps have suffered heavy losses in the northeastern oblast and refused to fight, the Ukrainian armed forces said early on Friday, reported The Kyiv Independent.

However, the intense fighting continued at the army positions in Ukraine as Russian fighters have launched missile and air strikes on civilian areas.

The UK officials have called the death sentence handed out to two Britons by the Donetsk People’s Republic a “sham judgment” with no legitimacy.

UK’s foreign secretary Liz Truss said: “I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine.

“They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy,” Ms Truss said.

She added: “My thoughts are with the families. We continue to do everything we can to support them.”

British officials monitoring the hearing in one of Russia’s proxies in eastern Ukraine have said that Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner should be treated as prisoners of war.

“We are obviously deeply concerned by this. We have said continually that prisoners of war shouldn’t be exploited for political purposes,” a No 10 spokesperson said.

“Under the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity and they should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities,” the spokesperson said.