Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy to address parliament and meet King Charles in surprise UK visit

Poland and the Baltic states have urged the EU to work on seizing frozen Russian state assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine “as soon as possible”, raising pressure to act on a legally-fraught question.

Ahead of a two-day EU summit that will discuss the Russian invasion, the leaders of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said “in order to be credible on this matter vis-à-vis Ukraine” the bloc had to go beyond reiterating previous commitments and “accelerate our work in the Council right now”.

The quartet of countries, Ukraine’s most outspoken allies in the EU, want western governments to use Russia’s €300bn of frozen central bank reserves to help Ukraine’s internally-displaced people and start rebuilding the country.

“Those frozen assets must be used as soon as possible, we cannot wait until the war is over and a peace agreement is signed,” the four write in a joint letter seen by the Guardian to EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, and Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson. Sweden currently holds the rotating presidency and is responsible for drawing up agendas for the EU council of ministers.

Last November, the European Commission suggested creating a structure to manage €300bn of frozen Russian Central Bank assets and €19bn of Russian oligarchs’ money under EU sanctions. Officials said only the proceeds could go to Ukraine, amid uncertainty over the legality of seizing the funds.

Poland and the Baltic states go further, arguing “all assets should be used to cover the costs of Russian aggression against Ukraine”.

The idea is likely to come up at the EU summit on Thursday that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to attend in what would be his first visit to Brussels since Russia’s invasion.

Zelenskiy’s surprise visit to the UK – not leaked in advance – will raise expectations he will go to Brussels on Thursday. An unpublished agenda note shows the European parliament decided on Tuesday to hold a last-minute plenary session this Thursday, suggesting Zelenskiy could address MEPs.

At the summit, EU leaders are expected to endorse Zelenskiy’s ten-point peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of all Russian troops, restoration of Ukraine’s borders and a special tribunal for the prosecution of Russian war crimes.

On Thursday European leaders are also set to express support for a “peace formula summit aiming at launching [the peace’s plan’s] implementation”, according to draft summit conclusions. The document also notes: “Russia has not shown any genuine willingness regarding a fair and sustainable peace”.

We have a clip of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy landing at Stansted airport this morning, before travelling in a police-escorted convoy to Downing Street for talks with Rishi Sunak before an address to parliament.

Zelenskiy will then head to Buckingham Palace to meet with King Charles III in the afternoon.

My colleague Kiran Stacey has a clip of Zelenskiy and Sunak arriving at Downing Street earlier.

One of the Russians on today’s UK sanctions list is Vladimir Putin’s alleged former lover, Svetlana Krivonogikh.

Krivonogikh worked as a cleaner in the 1990s before allegedly meeting Putin in St Petersburg. The Pandora Papers leak revealed how she rapidly grew rich and acquired several properties, including a luxury flat in Monaco.

The investigative website Proekt claims Putin is the father of Krivonogikh’s daughter Luiza. Russia’s president has not commented on the story.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Rishi Sunak are now in Downing Street.

The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, has shared a photo of Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Rishi Sunak meeting at London’s Stansted airport.

Stefanchuk posted to Twitter:

A meeting of strong leaders. A meeting of leaders of strong countries. A meeting of friends and allies.

President Zelenskiy also shared the same image on his Telegram account with the caption:

The United Kingdom was one of the first to come to Ukraine’s aid. And today I’m in London to personally thank the British people for their support and prime minister Rishi Sunak for his leadership.

Britain has added 15 new designations to its Russia-related sanctions list, including six entities providing military equipment such as drones for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions also target eight individuals and one entity connected to financial networks that help “maintain wealth and power amongst Kremlin elites”, the UK government said in a statement.

Those sanctioned include five individuals who the government said were “connected to Putin’s luxury residences, including the 100 billion rouble ‘Putin’s palace’ and Putin’s lakeside Dacha”.

• Boris Titov – Presidential Commissioner for Entrepreneur’s Rights, which he was awarded after purchasing 740 acres of vineyards on the grounds of the palace.

• Nikolay Egorov – Until recently, deputy chairman of the largest privately owned oil refinery in Russia.

• Sergey Rudnov – the owner of pro-Kremlin news outlet Regum.

• Svetlana Krivonogikh – a shareholder in Bank Rossiya and the National Media Group, who consistently promote the Russian assault in Ukraine.

• Viktor Myachin – Owner of Aerostart, a Russian aircraft maintenance and repair company.

Also being sanctioned are the organisations “that Putin’s military relies on to maintain its illegal invasion of Ukraine”, the government said.

• CST, a manufacturer of Russian drones which have been used to destroy Ukrainian combat vehicles.

• RT-Komplekt who produce parts for helicopters used by Russia in its assault on Ukraine.

• Oboronlogistics who organise the transportation and delivery for Russian military equipment.

• Universalmash and Lipetsk, who manufacture or modify the tracked chassis for anti-aircraft missile systems used by Russia’s armed forces in Ukraine.

• Topaz, a software company involved in military aviation.

Foreign secretary, James Cleverly said:

Ukraine has shown Putin that it will not break under his tyrannical invasion. He has responded by indiscriminately striking civilian areas and critical national infrastructure across the country. We cannot let him succeed. We must increase our support.

These new sanctions accelerate the economic pressure on Putin – undermining his war machine to help Ukraine prevail. I am determined, consistent with our laws, that Russia will have no access to the assets we have frozen until it ends, once and for all, its threats to Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and integrity.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to visit Brussels on Thursday, Reuters is reporting, citing an EU diplomat.

The Ukrainian president was reported to be planning a trip tomorrow to meet EU leaders in person at a summit and address the European parliament in an extraordinary session.

Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Geneva Abdul to bring you the latest from the Russia-Ukraine war. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.

Zelenskiy has arrived in the UK and was greeted by the UK prime minister Rishi Sunak.

The King will hold an audience with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy today, Buckingham Palace has said.

The audience between the King and President Zelensky will take place at Buckingham Palace this afternoon.

In a surprise visit, Ukraine’s president Zelenskiy arrives in the UK today on his first visit since Russia’s invasion to address parliament and meet with prime minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian troops being trained by British armed forces.

More to come…

The 2023 international security report added Russia continues to keep the “nuclear card” on the table as an instrument of anti-western leverage and to dissuade western nations from helping Ukraine.

“While Putin still seems to believe that time will play in Russia’s favour and he will be able to “bomb” Ukraine to the negotiating table, reality will dawn on the Kremlin sooner or later,” the report says.

World heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has urged the International Olympic Committee not to allow Russian athletes to compete under a neutral banner in Paris next year, saying any medals they win will be “medals of blood”, Reuters reports.

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s president Zelenskiy also urged partners to counter the International Olympic Committees’ (IOC) exploration of options to permit Russian athletes to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In a direct video message to IOC president Thomas Bach posted on his official Instagram account, Usyk said:

You want to allow Russian athletes to compete at the Olympics … Russian Armed Forces invaded our country and kill civilians. Russian army is killing Ukrainian athletes and coaches and destroying sports grounds as well as sports halls … The medals that Russian athletes are going to win are medals of blood, death and tears. Let me wish you to have peaceful sky above you and to be in good health and happy.

The remarks come a day after five Olympic committees in the Nordic region – Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway – urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from participating in international sports, according to AP news.

Earlier we reported on Ivan Kovbasnyuk saying athletes from Russia and Belarus should not be allowed to compete at the next Olympics – or in any international sports events.

Kovbasnyuk told AP news:

It’s not fair when Ukrainian sportsmen don’t have a chance to participate in the Olympics because they are dying on the battlefields while Russian athletes are just silently supporting (Vladimir) Putin’s crime regime.

A fire broke out on Wednesday at an oil refinery in Russia’s southern Rostov region near the border with Ukraine and was later extinguished, state media reported, citing the emergencies ministry.

“In Rostov Region, Novoshakhtinsk city ... a message was received at 10:24 a.m. Moscow time about a fire on the territory of an oil products processing plant,” the ministry said, according to Reuters.

The fire broke out over an area of about 100 square metres and was extinguished around an hour later, Interfax news agency reported, adding that the small refinery belonged to a company called Resource LLC.

Wednesday’s fire was the second in two days to hit a Russian refinery, following an incident on Tuesday at a Lukoil unit in Nizhny Novgorod, east of Moscow.