Here are the key events so far on Thursday, April 28.
Get the latest updates here.
Fighting
- Russia stepped up its assaults on eastern and southern Ukraine, Kyiv said, and President Vladimir Putin threatened lightning-fast retaliation against any Western countries that intervene on Ukraine’s behalf.
- Ukraine fired three rockets at the centre of the southern city of Kherson but Russian occupying forces shot down two of them, RIA news agency has cited a security source as saying.
- Meanwhile, Russian forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a pro-Ukraine rally in Kherson, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general.
- Russian forces attacked a huge steel plant where fighters and some civilians are holed up in the southern city of Mariupol, an aide to the city’s mayor says.
- Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov says the country has “extremely difficult weeks” ahead, warning of major “destruction” in a developing Russian offensive in the east of the country.
- Russia says its missiles have taken out a “large batch” of Western-supplied weapons and ammunition being stored at an aluminium plant in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
- The British Ministry of Defence says Russia’s Black Sea fleet retains the ability to strike Ukrainian and coastal targets, despite its losses of the landing ship, Saratov, and the cruiser, Moskva.
Moldova
- Authorities in Moldova’s pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria say shots were fired from Ukraine towards a village that houses an ammunition depot, the latest report to raise concerns that Russia’s war might expand. The United States has repeatedly warned Russian forces could launch “false-flag” operations to create a pretext for invading other countries.
Diplomacy
- Following talks in Moscow with Putin, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has arrived in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, where he is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- Canadian politicians have voted unanimously to call Russia’s attacks in Ukraine a “genocide”, with members of parliament saying there was “ample evidence of systemic and massive war crimes against humanity”.
- Ukraine’s lead negotiator says no agreement has been reached for the Ukrainian and Russian presidents to discuss the war despite efforts by Turkey to arrange talks.
- Russia has freed former US marine Trevor Reed, jailed on charges of fighting with police, in exchange for the US releasing Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, jailed for drug trafficking.
Human and economic effects
- The European Commission proposes suspending import duties for a year on all Ukrainian goods and exempting its steel exports from anti-dumping and safeguard measures.
- Real disposable incomes in Russia dropped 27.8 percent in the first quarter of 2022, the official statistics service says in an estimate, pointing to a dramatic slide in purchasing power since the Ukraine conflict began.
- A number of Ukrainian cities plan to rename streets and squares associated with Russia under a process of “de-Russification” following Moscow’s invasion.
- Russia’s Gazprom halts gas shipments to Poland and Bulgaria for refusing to pay in roubles but the Europan Union steps in quickly to fulfil their energy needs.
- EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warns EU members against giving in to Moscow’s demands for roubles payments, unless their contract is denominated in roubles, amid reports some customers have already done so.
- Russia-appointed officials in the Khersonska region say the area will start transitioning to the rouble from May 1.
