Ukraine-Russia war latest: 'Putin did not order Navalny death,' - US report; Russian oil refinery suspends operations after 'Ukrainian drone attack'

The Kremlin has said there are currently no grounds for peace talks with Ukraine.  

Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, said the two nations would not discuss an end to the conflict after Kyiv put in place a formal refusal to negotiate. 

The comments refer to a 2022 decree signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy which declared the prospect of any talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin "impossible".

The decree states that the possibility for a discussion is still open to what Mr Zelenskyy called "another president of Russia".

Russia launched a barrage of missiles against Ukraine overnight, appearing to target the country's energy infrastructure.

Ukraine's air force said that it had intercepted 21 out of 34 drones launched across the country.

Energy minister Herman Halushchenko said energy facilities in Dnipropetrovsk in the south of the country and Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv in the west had been attacked.

An engineer was reportedly injured, Mr Halushchenko said.

Private energy operator DTEK said four of its thermal power plants were damaged and that there were "casualties" but did not provide any further detail.

It comes after the security service of Ukraine confirmed that it had launched drones at the Slavyansk and Ilsky oil refineries in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region.

The source said drones also targeted Russia's Kushchevsk military airfield in the same region. 

Intelligence agencies in the US have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin most likely did not order opposition leader Alexei Navalny to be killed, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Mr Navalny, one of Mr Putin's fiercest critics, died at an Arctic prison camp in February at the age of 47.

His allies, including his wife, accused the Russian leader of having him murdered - an accusation the Kremlin has always denied. 

But after a recent assessment based on a range of information - including some classified intelligence and an analysis of public facts - US intelligence agencies do not believe Mr Putin ordered the death of his opponent.

The assessment also took into account the timing of the death and how it overshadowed Mr Putin's presidential re-election in March, the WSJ cited some of its sources as saying.

The paper quoted sources as saying the finding had been "broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department's intelligence unit".

Responding to the report, Leonid Volkov, a senior Navalny aide, called the findings naive and ridiculous, the WSJ reported.

A Russian oil refinery has partially suspended operations after being damaged in a suspected Ukrainian drone attack, the Russian TASS news agency says.

A large fire broke out at the Slavyansk oil refinery in the Krasnoyarsk region after being hit with 10 Ukrainian drones, the security director at Slavyansk ECO Group, was quoted as saying. 

They said some of the damage caused may be hidden so the "work of the plant has been partially suspended".

Earlier today, Roman Siniagovskyi, head of the Slavyansk administrative district said the distillation column was damaged during the alleged strike. 

Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 66 Ukrainian drones over the Krasnoyarsk region, and two more over the Crimean Peninsula.

A source from the Security Service of Ukraine confirmed that Ukrainian drones had been launched at the Slavyansk and Ilsky oil refineries and had caused fires at the facilities. 

The source said drones also targeted Russia's Kushchevsk military airfield in the same region. 

A Ukrainian court has ordered the detention of the country's farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation.

The country's High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that agriculture minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias (£1.5m), a statement said.

He is alleged to have led an organised crime group that unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias (£5.87m) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias (£3.83m) between 2017 and 2021.

Over the past two years, a number of senior Ukrainian officials have lost their jobs, causing embarrassment as they receive thousands in foreign aid. 

US military aid is currently on the way to Ukraine, which may take several weeks to arrive.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says due to this, it will be a little while until any of the much-needed aid makes much of an impact on the battlefield.

It says forces in Ukraine will first have to use the aid to stabilise the frontlines and try to stop ongoing Russian advances, particularly in the areas of Avdiivka and Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region.

No matter what way Ukraine uses the new aid, the US has not claimed that it would be enough to allow the country to regain all of its territory. 

The ISW also warns of a potential summer Russian offensive operation that may begin as soon as June.

"Ukraine's ability to regain all of its territory in the long term rests on numerous future decisions in the West, in the Kremlin, and in Kyiv," the ISW says.

A Russian court has placed a journalist - who works for the Russian edition of Forbes - under house arrest, Russian state-news agency RIA has reported. 

Sergei Mingazov is believed to have been detained yesterday on suspicion of spreading false information about the Russian army, his magazine said at the time.

Forbes is an American business magazine.

It is currently owned by Hong Kong-based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Yesterday, the US announced even more aid for Ukraine in the form of a $6bn (£4.8bn) package. 

The new package includes more Patriot missiles for the country's air defence systems.

It is in addition to the $61bn (£49bn) aid package that was finally passed by Congress following a long delay.

Before we resume our live coverage and regular updates, here is a recap of the other key moments from the last 24 hours.

• Ukrainian air defences shot down 21 out of 34 Russian missiles in an overnight attack, the Ukrainian air force said;
• A Russian oil refinery has been damaged in a suspected Ukrainian attack, local authorities said;
• A 20-year-old British man has been charged with conducting hostile state activity to benefit Russia, prosecutors have said.
  

Thank you for following along today as we brought you live updates on the Ukraine war. 

Scroll down through our live page to catch up on the main developments today.

The US has announced a $6bn (£4.8bn) military aid package for Ukraine.

It includes more Patriot missiles for the country's air defence systems, defence secretary Lloyd Austin said.

The package also includes more munitions for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and gear to integrate Western air defence launchers, missiles and radars into Ukraine's existing weaponry, much of which dates back to Soviet times.

It comes after Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy talked about the need for Patriots with the Ukraine Defence Contact Group - a coalition of about 50 countries gathered virtually in a US-led meeting.

Mr Austin said the group had "moved heaven and earth" since April 2022 to source millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket systems, armoured vehicles and jets to help Ukraine fight back against Russia.

Mr Zelenskyy had asked for at least seven Patriot systems to protect Ukrainian cities, saying they were needed "urgently", adding: "This is what can and should save lives right now."

Other countries have been reluctant to send Patriot systems to Ukraine, worried they will need them for their own defence. 

General CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: "Now the Ukrainians don't necessarily have to ration what they have because they know things are coming out of this package and there will be follow-on packages."