Volodymyr Zelenskyiy has cancelled all foreign trips after Russia launched a major surprise offensive last week

Ukraine’s troops withdrew from several areas of the country’s north-east amid mounting pressure from a new Russian offensive, as the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, postponed all foreign trips underscoring the seriousness of the threat.

The moves came as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Moscow’s latest operation was “going to plan” and Russian forces were improving their positions daily even as the US rushed to resupply arms and ammunition to Kyiv.

Exclusive: Russian customs records suggest firm owned by major Tory donor kept supplying machines after ‘voluntary pause’

The British digger maker JCB, owned by the billionaire Bamford family, continued to build and supply equipment for the Russian market months after saying it had stopped exports because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal.

Russian customs records show that JCB, whose owners are major donors to the Conservative party, continued to make new products available for Russian dealers well after 2 March 2022, when the company publicly stated that it had “voluntarily paused exports” to Russia.

By moving Sergei Shoigu and promoting key allies, Russia’s leader is shoring up the military-industrial complex that justifies his survival

When the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, was removed from his post and appointed head of the security council this week, there were two big questions on everyone’s mind. What would his successor, Andrei Belousov, bring to the table, and what would happen to the former head of the security council, Nikolai Patrushev – reputed to be the second most powerful man in Russia and seen by many as a potential successor to Vladimir Putin?

The second question has a straightforward answer. Patrushev, it seems, is being sidelined. Yesterday, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Patrushev had been appointed to the grand position of presidential aide for shipbuilding – barring any further surprise moves, this is a considerable downgrade in role.

Samantha de Bendern is an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House and a political commentator on LCI television in France

Ukrainian military says its troops have moved to ‘more advantageous positions’ in response to enemy fire and assaults from Russian forces

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has cancelled a visit to Spain and Portugal , authorities said on Wednesday, with CNN Portugal and other media reporting it was because of renewed fighting in his country.

King Felipe of Spain was due to hold a reception for Zelenskiy on 17 May and host a meal in his honour. Zelenskiy had also been expected to sign a bilateral security cooperation agreement with prime minister Pedro Sánchez after a joint declaration by Nato last year.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development cuts growth forecasts for regions it operates in, saying war ‘casting long shadow’

Ukraine’s war-torn economy faces a renewed threat as Russia’s intensifying war takes its toll on power plants and forces Kyiv to send key workers to the frontline, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has warned.

In its latest economic update, the EBRD cut its growth forecasts and said more than two years of fighting in Ukraine was affecting not only the warring countries but also their neighbours.

The bill requires any civil society organisation that receives more than 20% of its funds from abroad to register as being under foreign influence. Daniel Boffey reports

On the face of it the bill could sound innocuous: any civil society organisation that receives more than 20% of its funds from abroad must register as an organisation under foreign influence. Yet the new law Georgia’s parliament passed yesterday has sparked outrage and demonstrations in the capital, Tbilisi.

Critics claim the bill is “Kremlin-inspired” as Putin passed a similar law in 2012, which they say has had a chilling effect on civil society. Demonstrators think it is a way to redirect Georgia towards Russia. The Guardian’s chief reporter, Daniel Boffey , has been speaking to young protesters – often schoolchildren – about why they are so incensed.

Ukrainians pull back to new positions in parts of Kharkiv region; Putin to visit China. What we know on day 812

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday on his first visit to Ukraine since a major US aid package was passed last month. Blinken, who arrived by train from Poland in an unannounced visit, met with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Some of it has already arrived and more of it will be arriving,” said Blinken of the US aid. “And that’s going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield .”

Zelenskiy described the US aid as crucial, and thanked Blinken, but also said Ukraine desperately needed two more air defence systems to protect the city of Kharkiv, which has been hit repeatedly by Russian strikes in recent weeks.

Blinken joined band 19.99 on stage at Barman Dictat , picking up a red guitar to play Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World . “Your soldiers, your citizens – particularly in the north-east, in Kharkiv – are suffering tremendously. But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of the world is with you and they’re fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for the free world. And the free world is with you, too,” Blinken said before playing the song.

Ukraine’s military said its forces pulled back to new positions in two areas of the north-eastern Kharkiv region where Moscow is pressing an offensive, and warned of a Russian force buildup to the north near the Sumy region .

Russia said on Tuesday it had taken a 10th border village, Buhruvatka, in Kharkiv region. The police chief in Vovchansk, a town 5km (three miles) from the border that has been the target of one of the main Russian thrusts, reported exchanges of fire in the north of the town.

Russian strikes on residential areas in the centre of Kharkiv city injured 20 people on Tuesday, officials said.

Ukrainian grid operator Ukrenergo said on Tuesday that power shortages caused by damage from Russian strikes had prompted controlled countrywide cuts from 9pm to midnight. “The reason is a significant shortage of electricity in the system as a result of Russian shelling as well as increased consumption because of cold weather,” Ukrenergo said.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will visit China on 16-17 May, Chinese state media reported.

Joe Biden has signed legislation broadly supported in Congress that prohibits any imports of Russian uranium into the US from 12 August . Russia provides about 20-30% percent of the enriched uranium used in the US and Europe and 44% globally, according to the US energy department. The legislation will release $2.72bn in funding for the energy department to invest in uranium enrichment inside the US.

Russia has put its Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile into service, the Tass state news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the system’s chief designer.

Official suggests US funding could be pulled as new ‘Kremlin-inspired’ law provokes mass protests

• Why are Georgians protesting against a ‘foreign agents’ bill?
• Georgia protests – live updates

Georgia has been warned by the US government not to become an adversary of the west by falling back in line with Moscow, as its parliament defied mass street protests to pass a “Kremlin-inspired” law.

The US assistant secretary of state Jim O’Brien spoke of his fears that the passing by Georgia’s parliament of a “foreign agents” bill on Tuesday could be yet another “turning point” in the former Soviet state’s troubled history.

US secretary of state promises long-awaited $60bn Ukraine aid package will make ‘real difference on battlefield’

US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Kyiv delivering a message that Washington remains committed to supporting Ukraine as the country’s forces face their toughest situation on the battlefield for months.

Russia in recent days has launched an offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, forcing thousands to flee their homes, and on Tuesday hit the centre of Kharkiv, the country’s second biggest city, with airstrikes.