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Pro-Kyiv Russian group says it ‘didn’t lose a single soldier’ in cross-border raids on Belgorod EU

FRANCE 24 spoke to exiled Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomarev, the political representative of the Freedom of Russia Legion. This Ukraine-based paramilitary group of Russian volunteers has been involved in cross-border incursions into Russia’s Belgorod region in the past last few days. Ponomarev claimed the pro-Ukrainian, anti-Putin group “didn’t lose a single soldier” and is successfully making progress inside Russia. Ultimately, “our guys will be in Moscow and Putin will not be in the Kremlin,” he predicted.

Greece: ‘The most likely outcome is a return to the polls in June’ EU

Conservative incumbent Kyriakos Mitsotakis called Sunday’s vote a political earthquake. “Citizens want a strong government, with a four year horizon with bolder changes so that we can quickly make up the lost ground that still separates us from Europe”, he said. The former primer minister Alexis Tsipras suffered a crushing blow. The most likely outcome is a return to the polls in June

?Live: Zelensky compares Bakhmut’s ‘total destruction’ to Hiroshima in 1945 EU

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky compared Bakhmut’s “total destruction” after months of continuous battles and shelling to the Japanese city of Hiroshima after a nuclear strike in 1945. This comes following conflicting reports on the status of Bakhmut, as Russia claimed having taken the city while Ukraine denied it had fallen. Read our live blog for the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

US President Joe Biden backing on Friday the Western allies’ plan to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on F-16 fighter jets is “the most significant weapons announcement […] since the tanks were promised in February; arguably more significant, because while it doesn’t represent a step change in capability; what it does do is that it extends that asssistance into the air domain directly,” said Frank Ledwidge, a senior lecturer in military strategy at the University of Portsmouth. “It’s also interesting that the means by which this was leveraged to the United States was very similar; in other words, the British and one or two other powers in Europe got together in February and donated modern NATO tanks; much the same happened in terms of training promises and Prime Minister Sunak’s mention of a coalition for jets, which also pressured the US at this time as well. Although I suspect it wasn’t quite one following the other; I suspect there was a bit more co-operation than we’re led to believe.”

? Live: Zelensky says G7 summit meetings bring peace ‘closer’ EU

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said “peace will be closer” as a result of meetings at the G7 summit, after a diplomatic source said he had arrived in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Read our live blog for all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

EU should move from ‘nice words’ to action on enlargement: Romanian ex-minister Negrescu EU

The European Union sees Romania as one of its frontline states when it comes to the war in Ukraine. The country of 19 million people, a member of both the EU and NATO, has a land and sea border with Ukraine of more than 600 kilometres. It has been a transit hub for weapons supplies to Kyiv. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have passed through Romania, and more than 130,000 have been granted temporary protection in the country, according to the UN. Talking Europe interviews Viktor Negrescu, a Romanian politician from the Social Democratic Party. He is a Member of the European Parliament and he was Minister Delegate for European Affairs in the government of Romania between 2017 and 2018.