Russian reports that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun are being used to distract from Russian losses in Bakhmut, the Ukrainian deputy defence minister has said.
The comments from deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar come after Moscow said it had thwarted a major Ukrainian assault in the south of Ukraine‘s Donetsk region.
Posting on the Telegram messaging app, Ms Maliar said that Ukrainian forces were “shifting to offensive actions” in some areas along the frontline but dismissed suggestions that this was part of a major operation.
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2:31
Russia ‘thwarts’ Ukraine offensive
“Why are the Russians actively releasing information about a counteroffensive? Because they need to divert attention from the defeat in the Bakhmut direction,” she wrote.
Image: Each point that fighting is said to have taken place to the south west of Bakhmut, according to a Russian blogger
Earlier on Monday, the Russian defence ministry claimed that forces had pushed back a “large scale” assault at five points in the Donetsk region.
The region was illegally annexed by Russia last year but is only partially controlled by Moscow.
Ukraine has been probing, but the counteroffensive hasn’t properly begun
We’ve been waiting for months for a Spring offensive that now seems to be shifting to the summer.
We expect a major military engagement from the Ukrainians to recapture territory currently occupied by the Russians and we’ve all got a stake in it.
The West has helped to build up Ukraine’s military arsenal, it’s helped with training and intelligence, and so anticipation here and everywhere else is fever pitch.
It seems that level of anticipation is also being felt in Russia where today the defence ministry claims the beginning of the counteroffensive.
However, whether we’ve seen the beginning of the counteroffensive is subject to much speculation and debate.
Experts we’ve spoken to have pointed to a range of military engagements, right along the 1,000km long frontier, suggesting that at this point in time the Ukrainians are probing.
They’re looking for weaknesses in Russian defences, but haven’t begun the counteroffensive properly.
Proof of that may be found in the fact that we haven’t seen any proof of any new Western armaments being used in combat – for example the Challenger tank, nor is there proof of a major thrust by the Ukrainians on the frontline.
What we do know is that the Russians are well dug in, they’ve prepared multiple defensive lines, with the deployment of land mines and anti-tank traps.
It will be a major challenge for the Ukrainians to make the sort of advances that they were able to accomplish in their last counteroffensive.
The pressure is on Ukraine, expectations have risen along with the help that they’ve received and they will need to make significant and substantial progress to avoid having to open up talks with Putin.
Defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed 250 Ukrainian personnel were killed, and 16 Ukrainian tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured combat vehicles were destroyed.
Drone footage also allegedly showed the destruction of Ukrainian equipment.
Image: A Ukrainian military vehicle allegedly being hit. Pic: Russian defence ministry via AP
The head of Russia’s private military, the Wagner Group, also claimed that Ukrainian forces have retaken part of a settlement north of Bakhmut – two weeks after the group spearheaded the successful assault on the eastern city, after the longest battle of the war.
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4:01
Why hasn’t the spring offensive started yet?
Calling it a “disgrace”, Yevgeny Prigozhin said Kyiv’s forces had retaken the area of Berkhivka.
He urged leaders within Russia’s military, including defence minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, to come to the frontline.
“Come on, you can do it!” He wrote on Telegram. “And if you can’t, you’ll die heroes.”
Ukraine’s Ms Maliar said the area around Bakhmut remained the “epicentre” of fighting and that the Ukrainian military was “moving along a fairly wide front”.
Meanwhile on Monday, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, during his second visit to Kyiv.
Image: James Cleverly shakes hands with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Pic: AP
The pair discussed how the UK can continue to best support Ukraine, from the battlefield to banking guarantees, according to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The visit comes amid preparations for the Ukraine recovery conference in London later in June, which will focus on boosting the nation’s economy.
Donald Trump has described crucial trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as “amazing” – and says he will visit Beijing in April.
The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies met in South Korea as they tried to defuse growing tensions – with both countries imposing aggressive tariffs on exports since the president’s second term began.
Aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump confirmed tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US will be reduced, which could prove much-needed relief to consumers.
It was also agreed that Beijing will work “hard” to stop fentanyl flowing into the US.
Semiconductor chips were another issue raised during their 100-minute meeting, but the president admitted certain issues weren’t discussed.
“On a scale of one to 10, the meeting with Xi was 12,” he told reporters en route back to the US.
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2:08
‘Their handshake was almost a bit awkward’
Xi a ‘tough negotiator’, says Trump
The talks conclude a whirlwind visit across Asia – with Mr Trump saying he was “too busy” to see Kim Jong Un.
However, the president said he would be willing to fly back to see the North Korean leader, with a view to discussing denuclearisation.
Mr Trump had predicted negotiations with his Chinese counterpart would last for three or four hours – but their meeting ended in less than two.
The pair shook hands before the summit, with the US president quipping: “He’s a tough negotiator – and that’s not good!”
It marks the first face-to-face meeting between both men since 2019 – back in Mr Trump’s first term.
Image: Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Pic: AP
There were signs that Beijing had extended an olive branch to Washington ahead of the talks, with confirmation China will start buying US soybeans again.
American farmers have been feeling the pinch since China stopped making purchases earlier this year – not least because the country was their biggest overseas market.
Chinese stocks reached a 10-year high early on Thursday as investors digested their meeting, with the yuan rallying to a one-year high against the US dollar.
Analysis: A fascinating power play
Sky News Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith – who is in Busan where the talks took place – said it was fascinating to see the power play between both world leaders.
She said: “Trump moved quickly to dominate the space – leaning in, doing all the talking, even responding very briefly to a few thrown questions.
“That didn’t draw so much as an eyebrow raise from his counterpart, who was totally inscrutable. Xi does not like or respond well to unscripted moments, Trump lives for them.”
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2:43
Will Trump really run for a third term?
On Truth Social, Mr Trump had described the summit as a gathering of the “G2” – a nod to America and China’s status as the world’s two biggest economies.
While en route to see President Xi, he also revealed that the US “Department of War” has now been ordered to start testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a two-day window after the paramilitary group captured the regional capital, analysts believe.
Sky News is not able to independently verify the claim by Yale Humanitarian Labs, as the city remains under a telecommunications blackout.
Stains and shapes resembling blood and corpses can be seen from space in satellite images analysed by the research lab.
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale Humanitarian Labs, said: “In the past 48 hours since we’ve had [satellite] imagery over Al Fashir, we see a proliferation of objects that weren’t there before RSF took control of Al Fashir – they are approximately 1.3m to 2m long which is critical because in satellite imagery at very high resolution, that’s the average length of a human body lying vertical.”
Mini Minawi, the governor of North Darfur, said on X that 460 civilians have been killed in the last functioning hospital in the city.
The Sudan Doctors Network has also shared that the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside Al Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards”.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reports.
Satellite images support the claims of a massacre at Al Saudi Hospital, according to Mr Raymond, who said YHL’s report detailed “a large pile of them [objects believed to be bodies] against a wall at one building at Saudi hospital. And we believe that’s consistent with reports that patients and staff were executed en masse”.
In a video message released on Wednesday, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “violations in Al Fashir” and claimed “an investigation committee should start to hold any soldier or officer accountable”.
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3:00
Army soldiers ‘fled key Sudan city’ before capture
Image: The Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al Fashir. Pic: Airbus DS /2025 via AP
The commander is known for committing atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s as a Janjaweed militia leader, and the RSF has been accused of carrying out genocide in Darfur 20 years on.
Sources have told Sky News the RSF is holding doctors, journalists and politicians captive, demanding ransoms from some families to release their loved ones.
One video shows a man from Al Fashir with an armed man kneeling on the ground, telling his family to pay 15,000. The currency was not made clear.
In some cases, ransoms have been paid, but then more messages come demanding that more money be transferred to secure release.
Muammer Ibrahim, a journalist based in the city, is currently being held by the RSF, who initially shared videos of him crouched on the ground, surrounded by fighters, announcing his hometown had been captured under duress.
He is being held incommunicado as his family scrambles to negotiate his release. Muammer courageously covered the siege of Al Fashir for months, enduring starvation and shelling.
The Committee to Protect Journalists regional director Sara Qudah said the abduction of Muammar Ibrahim “is a grave and alarming reminder that journalists in Al Fashir are being targeted simply for telling the truth”.
Sharing aerial footage of battered homes, he wrote: “The damage is great, but we are going to devote all our energy to mount a strong recovery.”
The storm made landfall in Cuba in the early hours of Wednesday morning before leaving mid-afternoon, heading towards the Bahamas.
Image: Hurricane Melissa has ravaged through the Caribbean. Pic: Reuters
‘Whole communities are underwater’
Alexander Pendry, British Red Cross global response manager, said: “News is already coming through that whole communities are underwater and that the damage left by the strong winds has been devastating.
“The Jamaica Red Cross has been proactively supporting communities by preparing essential supplies and managing shelters. Their priority now is to reach people with aid as soon as possible.
“Across the Caribbean, Red Cross teams have been mobilising as Melissa continues its trajectory across Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti.”
He added: “Tragically, experience tells us that the impact on communities and individuals will be shattering and long lasting.