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A police source told Russian state news agency Tass that Isis members who are due to appear in court on terrorism charges are among the hostage takers at the Rostov detention centre, according to AFP.
Another Russian news agency, Interfax, reports that the hostage takers have demanded a car and free passage, citing unidentified sources.
Detainees who took hostages in Rostov claim they are supporters of Isis
Five men who took hostages at a detention centre in Russia’s southern region of Rostov claim they are supporters of ISIS, Reuters reports, citing the Baza Telegram channel, which has sources in Russian law enforcement.
Prisoners at a pre-trial detention centre took two employees hostage, the Federal Penitentiary Service said on Sunday.
“The institution operates as usual, the situation is under control,” the service said in message on the Telegram messaging app.
It added that law enforcement agencies were called to the site.
Russia’s RIA state news agency reported, citing unidentified sources, that the detainees who ere involved in taking the employees hostage are accused of terrorism.
Road traffic around the centre has been limited, Russian agencies reported.
The Baza report could not be independently verified but we will bring you any updates as soon as we know more.
Peace summit enters second day as western powers look to exert pressure on Russia
Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war. Western powers and countries from the rest of the world will use the second day of a major summit in Switzerland today to pursue a consensus on condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and underscoring concerns about the war’s human cost.
A draft of the final summit declaration, seen by Reuters, refers to Russia’s invasion as a “war” – a label Moscow rejects – and calls for Ukraine’s control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and its Azov seaports to be restored.
Moscow casts what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine as part of a broader struggle with the west, which it says wants to bring Russia to its knees. Kyiv and the west say Russia is waging an illegal war of conquest.
World leaders including US vice-president Kamala Harris, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron gathered this weekend at a mountaintop resort in a bid to bolster international support for ending the war.
Many western leaders voiced forceful condemnation of the invasion, invoking the UN Charter in defence of Ukrainian territorial integrity, and rejecting Russian president Vladimir Putin’s demands for parts of Ukraine as a condition for peace.
“One thing is clear in this conflict: there is an aggressor, which is Putin, and there is a victim, which is the Ukrainian people,” Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez said.
Here’s a summary of the rest of the day’s events:
Shortly before leaving for the summit yesterday, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz said that G7 leaders did not discuss Vladimir Putin’s proposals for peace in Ukraine since everyone knew they were not serious. Scholz said the Russian president’s proposals – for Ukraine to abandon four provinces Russia claims, stop fighting and drop its ambition of Nato membership – were aimed only at distracting from the conference. The Kremlin said on Saturday that the west had reacted unconstructively to Putin’s proposals for a new security architecture and peace talks with Ukraine.
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, who attended the summit in place of the US president, Joe Biden, announced more than $1.5bn (£1.2bn) in aid for Ukraine. The $1.5bn includes $500m (£395m) in new funding for energy assistance and the redirecting of $324m (£256m) in previously announced funds toward emergency energy infrastructure repair and other needs in Ukraine, the vice-president’s office said. She also announced more than $379m (£300m) in humanitarian assistance from the state department and the US agency for international development to help refugees and other people affected by the war.
Prisoners at a pre-trial detention centre in Russia’s southern region of Rostov took two employees hostage, the Federal Penitentiary Service said on Sunday. The five men who took hostages claim they are supporters of Islamic State, the Baza Telegram channel, which has sources in Russian law enforcement, reported on Sunday, according to Reuters.
Swedish fighter jets intercepted a Russian military aircraft after it briefly violated Sweden’s airspace on Friday east of the Baltic island of Gotland, the Nordic country’s armed forces said. Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billstrom, called the airspace violation “unacceptable” and said officials from the Russian embassy in Stockholm would be summoned to his ministry over the incident.
Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Ukraine-sceptic prime minister Robert Fico, was sworn in as Slovakia’s new president.
English (US)