Russia accused Ukraine of a failed attempt to assassinate President Putin in a drone attack on the Kremlin citadel, and threatened to retaliate. Ukrainian President Zelenskiy said Kyiv had nothing to do with the reported attack.
FIGHTING
* Zelenskiy said Ukraine would launch a counteroffensive soon against occupying Russian forces.
* Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary force, said the counteroffensive had already begun and his forces were observing heightened activity along the front.
* Russian shells killed 21 civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region, Zelenskiy said, with the places struck including a hypermarket, a railway station and residential buildings.
DIPLOMACY/POLITICS
* German police said Zelenskiy would travel to Berlin on May 13, though a security source later said public disclosure of the visit was premature and it was now unclear if it would go ahead.
* Zelenskiy is expected to speak in The Hague on Thursday, the Dutch government said. He’ll meet Prime Minister Rutte and members of parliament.
* U.S. military aid for Ukraine includes for the first time the Hydra-70 short-range air-launched rocket, taken from U.S. excess stocks.
ECONOMY
* Russia said it will keep talking to the United Nations about the future of a deal that allows the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, but would not do anything to harm its own interests.
* Zelenskiy said Russia did not appear to be interested in extending the agreement beyond May 18.
* Chicago wheat rebounded from a 25-month low to close higher, edging up on doubts about the future of the Black Sea grains corridor, market analysts said.
* Despite the war and sanctions, Russians appearing in London Commercial Courts reached record numbers, a consultancy’s report showed. No Ukrainian litigants have appeared in Commercial Court judgements since July 2021, it said.
* A Russian-U.S. joint venture has said it has abandoned plans to build large-capacity gas turbines in Russia under licence from General Electric Co GE.N.
(REUTERS)