US calls for Evan Gershkovich's immediate release after Moscow extends WSJ reporter's arrest – as it happened

The training of Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jets has begun in Poland, the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. It came after the United States gave its green light. He told a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels: “I am happy that finally the training of the pilots for the F-16 has started in several countries. It will take time, but the sooner the better… For example, in Poland.”

Moscow claimed to have pushed back the fighters it said launched a cross-border attack from Ukraine to the Belgorod region. Reuters reported that the claim could not immediately be independently verified. Russia subsequently opened a terrorism investigation.

The governor of Belgorod Vyacheslav Gladkov said the measures Russia claimed were in place to stop terrorism after the crossborder attack had finally been lifted. It came only a few hours after Moscow claimed to have pushed the fighters back over the border.

A Moscow court extended the detention of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on espionage charges at the end of March. During a brief hearing, the court ordered that Gershkovich should remain in jail until 30 August, Russian news agencies reported.

The United States called for Gershkovich’s immediate release. The White House’s national security spokesman John Kirby told CNN: “He shouldn’t be detained at all. Journalism is not a crime. He needs to be released immediately. We’re still going to work very, very hard to see if we can get him home with his family where he belongs.”