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Russia is continuing its bombing of Mariupol, the southern port city where the last remaining Ukrainian defenders are holed up in the Azovstal steel plant along with hundreds of civilians, the Ukrainian general staff has said in its latest update.
Russian forces “continue to block our units in the area of the Azovstal plant and to launch air strikes around the city,” it said.
It also said a unit of engineers had arrived in order to work on the port’s infrastructure.
Eight enemy attacks had been defeated in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and nine tanks, a fuel tanker and other military equipment had been destroyed.
“Heavy fighting” continues to take place in Mariupol, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update, despite Russia’s “stated conquest” of the southern port city.
The fighting was “frustrating Russian attempts to capture the city thus further slowing their desired progress in the Donbas,” it said.
“Despite increased activity, Russian forces have made no major gains in the last 24 hours as Ukrainian counter-attacks continue to hinder their efforts,” it added.
“Russian air and maritime forces have not established control in either domain owing to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air and sea defence reducing their ability to make notable progress.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 23 April 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 23, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/dYZnTBfSNG
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/9HFqZQlmbe
A western embargo on Russian oil and gas would deal “a very serious blow” to Russian president Vladimir Putin, former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now in exile in London, has said in an interview with the BBC’s Hardtalk programme.
I think if Putin has to redirect oil and gas exports from the European to the Asian markets, he will lose over half of his revenue,” said Khodorkovsky, who was once Russia’s richest man as owner of the country’s largest oil company, Yukos.
“It is half the revenue of the federal budget. Would he be able to continue the war and for how long would he be able to continue the war in those circumstances? It is difficult for me to say. After all, I am not a military expert. But I think it would be a very serious blow.”
When asked whether western sanctions of Russian oligarchs would make any difference he said,
It is important to understand that right now the correct steps are being made but they are based on incorrect assumptions ... oligarchs are people who have the power to play a role in the political decision-making process. These people are not oligarchs in that sense. I was never one. They are Putin’s agents and he uses them to influence, or at least try to influence, the western political system.
If asked whether Putin is a war criminal, none of them would be prepared to give a straight answer, even though all of them understand that it is true. What does this mean? It means Putin has a tight grip on them and they will carry out any of his orders. And from this point of view, blocking their bank accounts, limiting their opportunities to influence western politics and the western economic system, is crucial.
Asked if he had any sense of responsibility or regret for helping Putin take power in the 1990s, he said “of course”.
I started regretting it in 2002, 2003 when I told Putin in the Kremlin that his system was built on corruption and was ruining our country.
Canada has delivered a “number of M777 howitzers and associated ammunition” to Ukraine in conjunction with the US, defence minister Anita Anand has said.
“We have also provided Ukraine with additional Carl Gustaf ammunition, and we will provide armoured vehicles and other support,” she said in a tweet.
Canada stands with Ukraine. We have delivered a number of M777 howitzers and associated ammunition to Ukrainian Forces in conjunction with the USA.
— Anita Anand (@AnitaAnandMP) April 22, 2022
We have also provided Ukraine with additional Carl Gustaf ammunition, and we will provide armoured vehicles and other support. pic.twitter.com/sECMiyos4B
In a statement, Canada’s Ministry of Defence said it was “also in the process of finalizing contracts for a number of commercial pattern armoured vehicles, which will be sent to Ukraine as soon as possible, and a service contract for the maintenance and repair of specialized drone cameras that Canada has already supplied to Ukraine.”
Broadcaster CBC reported that the howitzers – described by the Ministry of Defence as “lighter and smaller, yet more powerful than any gun of its kind” and capable of accurately hitting targets 30km away – numbered four and were from the 37 that Canada purchased during the Afghan war.
A few images of the war from Friday, when Russia confirmed its intention to seize control of southern Ukraine and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that other countries could be next on Moscow’s list:
Russia is seeking to “starve out the remaining defenders and civilians in Mariupol’s Azovstal Steel Plant and are unlikely to allow trapped civilians to leave,” the Institute for the Study of War has written in its latest analysis of the conflict.
Shelling of the facility, where hundreds of civilians are thought to be holed up with the city’s last remaining Ukrainian fighters, has continued, it cited Ukrainian authorities as saying, adding that Russia had refused requests to establish humanitarian corridors allowing civilians to leave.
Russian and DNR [Donetsk People’s Republic] forces continued to consolidate their control of key buildings in Mariupol and are likely setting conditions to set up an occupation government. Several videos circulated on social media of unspecified Russian forces departing Mariupol, but ISW cannot confirm at this time which Russian forces have departed the city or their likely destination.
Referring to comments by a senior Russian commander on Friday that establishing control of souther Ukraine would give it access to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, the US-based think tank said it did not “read this as a statement of intent to conduct a major offensive operation toward Moldova”
An offensive toward Moldova would likely have been phrased around securing a “land corridor” [сухопутный коридор] to Moldova, much like the Russian land corridor to Crimea. Even if Russian forces did seek to resume major offensive operations toward Mykolaiv and on to Odesa, they are highly unlikely to have the capability to do so.
Rustam Minnekayev, acting commander of the central military district, had said that “Russian control of southern Ukraine provides Russia a future capability to conduct an offensive toward Transnistria, rather than announcing an imminent Russian offensive toward Moldova,” it noted.
Other key takeaways from the day were:
- Ongoing purges of Russian general officers for failures in Ukraine will likely further degrade Russian command and control.
- Russian forces conducted localized attacks and reconnoitered Ukrainian positions south of Izyum and did not make any advances.
- Russian forces secured minor gains in continuing daily attacks on the line of contact in eastern Ukraine.
- The Kremlin is setting conditions to create proxy republics in Zaporizhia and Kherson oblasts to cement Russian control over these regions and conscript Ukrainian manpower.
April 22 Update: RUS CMD Deputy Commander restates #Russia's existing objectives; RUS continue limited attacks in #Donbas/#Izyum; RUS forces refuse to let civilians in #Azovstal evacuate, seek to starve remaining #Ukrainian defenders. Read the full report: https://t.co/7FkwkRIU3S pic.twitter.com/98bmsAmceC
— Mason Clark (@Mason_R_Clark) April 22, 2022
The Associated Press has written a moving piece about the families of the sailors who went missing after the sinking of the Moskva warship last week:
It took the Russian military over a week to acknowledge that one serviceman died and two dozen others were missing after one of its flagship cruisers sank in the Black Sea, reportedly the result of a Ukrainian missiles strike.
The acknowledgment happened after families started searching desperately for their sons who, they said, served on the ship and did not come home, and relatives are posing sharp questions about Russia’s initial statement that the entire crew was evacuated.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday in a terse announcement that one crew member died and 27 were left missing after a fire damaged the flagship Moskva cruiser last week, while 396 others were evacuated. The ministry did not offer any explanation for its earlier claims that the full crew got off the vessel before it sank.
The loss of the Moskva, one of three missile cruisers of its kind in Russia’s fleet, was shrouded in mystery from the moment it was first reported early on April 14. Ukraine said it hit the ship with missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry would not acknowledge an attack, saying only that a fire broke out on the vessel after ammunition detonated, causing serious damage.
Moscow even insisted that the ship remained afloat and was being towed to a port, only to admit hours later that it sank after all — in a storm. No images of the ship, or of the supposed rescue operation, were made available.
Only several days later, the Russian military released a short and mostly silent video showing rows of sailors, supposedly from the Moskva, reporting to their command in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. The footage offered little clarity on how many sailors were actually evacuated to safety.
Soon came the questions. An emotional social media post by Dmitry Shkrebets alleging that his son, a conscript who served as a cook on Moskva, was missing, quickly went viral.
The military “said the entire crew was evacuated. It’s a lie! A blatant and cynical lie!” Shkrebets, a resident of Crimea, wrote on VK, a popular Russian social media platform, on April 17, three days after the ship went down.
“My son, a conscript, as the very commanders of the Moskva cruiser told me, is not listed among the wounded and the dead and is added to the list of those missing ... Guys, missing in the open sea?!”
Similar posts quickly followed from other parts of Russia. The Associated Press found social media posts looking for at least 13 other young men who reportedly served on the Moskva whose families could not find them.
One woman spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, as she feared for her son’s safety. She said her son was a conscript and had been aboard the Moskva for several months before telling her in early February that the ship was about to depart for drills. She lost touch with him for several weeks after that.
The news about Russia invading Ukraine worried her, she said, and she started reading the news online and on social media every day. The last time they spoke on the phone was in mid-March. He was on the ship but did not say where it was.
She didn’t start looking for him until a day after she learned about trouble aboard the Moskva, because official statements from the Defense Ministry said the crew was evacuated. But no one called or messaged her about her son’s whereabouts, and she started to get agitated.
Calls to various military officials and hotlines got her nowhere at first, but she persisted. A call she made on the way to a grocery store brought bleak news — that her son was listed as missing and that there was little chance he survived in the cold water.
“I said ‘But you said you rescued everyone,’ and he said ‘I only have the lists’. I screamed ‘What are you doing?!’” she told the AP. “I got hysterical, right at the bus stop (where I was standing), I felt like the ground was giving way under my feet. I started shaking.”
The Kremlin statements about the ship’s loss and the crew’s fate follow a historical pattern in which Russia has often met bad news with silence, denials or undercounts about casualties. Previous examples include the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the sinking of the nuclear-powered submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea in 2000 and the 1994-1996 Chechen war.
The families’ accounts could not be independently verified. But they went largely uncontested by Russian authorities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment and redirected the question to the Defense Ministry when asked by the AP during one of his daily conference calls with reporters about families challenging the official statements about sailors being evacuated.
The Defense Ministry did not comment on the outcry either — until Friday, when it finally revealed that 27 crew members were missing and one was confirmed dead. The ministry still did not acknowledge an attack on the ship, however.
Political analyst Abbas Gallyamov says the sinking of the Moskva is a major political blow for president Vladimir Putin, not so much because of the outcry from families, but because it hurts Putin’s image of military might.
“This trait, might, is under attack now because we’re now talking about the devastation of the fleet,” Gallyamov said. But the families’ woes underscores “that one shouldn’t trust the Russian authorities.”
In the meantime, some families with missing sons plan to continue seeking the truth.
“Now we will turn to figuring out for how long one can go missing’ in the open sea,” Shkrebets posted Friday.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres will travel to Ukraine on Thursday, where he will meet president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, his office has confirmed.
He will also meet with staff of UN agencies to discuss the “scaling up of humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine”.
The visit will take place two days after Guterres travels to Moscow to meet president Vladimir Putin.
Summary
If you’re just joining us, here’s a rundown of the latest developments:
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is “only a beginning” and that Moscow has designs on capturing other countries after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine. “All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first in line. And who will come next?” Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Friday.
- Rustam Minnekayev, the deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying full control over southern Ukraine would give it access to Transnistria, a breakaway Russian-occupied part of Moldova in the west.
- Moldova’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Moscow’s ambassador on Friday to express “deep concern” about the general’s comments. Moldova was neutral, it said. Moldova last month formally applied to join the European Union, charting a pro-western course hastened by Russia’s invasion.
- Fears continue to grow for hundreds of civilians holed up in the Azovstal steel factory in the besieged port city of Mariupol, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters. Russia’s defence ministry said it was ready to allow civilians to leave the steelworks if Ukrainian forces surrendered. But according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, Russian forces are continuing to drop bombs on the plant.
- Another mass grave has been found outside of Mariupol, the Associated Press has reported, citing the city council and an adviser to the mayor. The city council posted a satellite photo provided by Planet Labs showing what it said was a mass grave 45 metres by 25 metres that could hold the bodies of at least 1,000 Mariupol residents outside the village of Vynohradne.
- Ukraine deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said that “there is a possibility” a humanitarian corridor could be opened up out of Mariupol on Saturday. She was speaking in an online address to the people waiting to be evacuated.
- The stated intent of Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, to “introduce ‘new methods of warfare’ is a tacit admission that Russian progress is not going as intended”, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update. The MoD said it would take Russia some time to change tactics and improve operations and therefore in the interim there is “likely to be continued reliance on bombardment as a means of trying to suppress Ukrainian opposition”.
- The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has called for the release of prominent Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was detained outside his home in Moscow on 11 April, hours after CNN aired an interview in which he criticised Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
- The United Nations chief, António Guterres, will meet Putin in Moscow next week, seeking an end to the bloodshed. Guterres could also visit Zelenskiy in Kyiv, the UN announced. Talks between Russia and Ukraine had stalled again, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Friday.
- The US military expects more than 20 countries to attend Ukraine-focused defence talks it will host in Germany next week that will focus in part on Kyiv’s long-term defence needs, the Pentagon said on Friday.
- Western allies are preparing to offer Ukraine a series of “security guarantees” that should make the country “impregnable” to a future Russian invasion, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, was reported saying by the Press Association.
- Zelenskiy has said he is “grateful” to Britain after Johnson announced the reopening of the UK embassy in Kyiv.
- Russia’s defence ministry has reported that one sailor died and 27 more remain missing after one of its premier warships, the missile cruiser Moskva, sank last week in the Black Sea south of the threatened Ukrainian port of Odesa.
- Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave that could hold as many as 9,000 dead, local officials said. It comes after a US satellite imaging company released photos that appeared to match the site.
- The UN human rights office said it has seen growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, describing the war as a “horror story of violations against civilians”. The UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, said “almost every resident” of the town of Bucha had a story about the death of a relative, a neighbour or even a stranger.
One person was killed and two were injured on Friday when a transport plane in southern Ukraine descended too low in fog and hit high-voltage power lines, local authorities have said according to Reuters.
The accident occurred in the Zaporizhzhia region, the authorities said in a Facebook post. The twin-propellor Antonov An-26 had been on a technical flight from Zaporizhzhia to Uzhhorod, some 970 km (600 miles) away, they said.
Another mass grave has been found outside of Mariupol, the Associated Press has reported, citing the city council and an adviser to the mayor.
The city council posted a satellite photo provided by Planet Labs showing what it said was a mass grave 45 metres by 25 metres that could hold the bodies of at least 1,000 Mariupol residents.
It said the new reported mass grave is outside the village of Vynohradne, which is east of Mariupol.
The Guardian was unable to verify the report however Maxar Technologies, a US satellite imagery company, has also released images of the site.
Earlier this week, satellite photos from Maxar Technologies revealed what appeared to be rows of more than 200 freshly dug mass graves in the town of Manhush, located to the west of Mariupol.
Updated
Moldova has expressed “deep concern” and summoned the Russian ambassador following comments by a Russian military commander who said Moscow’s new aim was to seize control of southern Ukraine, which would also give it access to Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova.
These statements are unfounded and contradict the position of the Russian Federation supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova, within its internationally recognized borders,” Moldova’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In a meeting with Russian ambassador Oleg Vasnetov, the ministry “reiterated that the Republic of Moldova, in line with its Constitution, is a neutral state and this principle must be respected by all international actors, including the Russian Federation,” it continued.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has called for the release of prominent Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was detained outside his home in Moscow on 11 April, hours after CNN aired an interview in which he criticised Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s preposterous charges against Vladimir Kara-Murza – ‘disseminating false information’ about the brutal war in Ukraine – is yet another cynical attempt to silence those who speak the truth. Mr. Kara-Murza should be released immediately,” Blinken tweeted.
Kara-Murza was jailed for 15 days for disobeying a police officer, the Associated Press reported.
Russia adopted a law criminalising the spreading of false information about its military shortly after its troops rolled into Ukraine in late February, in an attempt to control the narrative around the invasion.
The offence is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Human rights advocates have so far counted 32 cases under the new law.
Kara-Murza has twice been hospitalized with poisoning symptoms, in 2015 and 2017. He is a a journalist and associate of late Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and oligarch-turned-dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Moscow 'wants to capture other countries' too, Zelenskiy says
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is only the beginning and comments by a senior Russian commander on Friday indicate Moscow will attack other countries too, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned in his latest nightly address.
This only confirms what I have said many times: the Russian invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning, then they want to capture other countries
Rustam Minnekayev, acting commander of the central military district, said on Friday that Russia’s new goal was to gain control of southern Ukraine, giving it access to Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova.
In Moldova, Zelenskiy noted, Russia has claimed that the rights of Russian speakers have been violated.
Although, to be honest, the territory in which Russia should take care of the rights of Russian-speakers is Russia itself. Where there is no freedom of speech, no freedom of choice. Where there is simply no right to dissent. Where poverty thrives and where human life is worthless. To the extent that they come to us, go to war to steal at least something that resembles a normal life.
You know they used to talk about their biggest dream: to see Paris and die. And their behavior is now just shocking. Because their dream now is to steal the toilet and die.
Zelenskiy also said he was “grateful” to Britain after prime minister Boris Johnson announced the reopening of the UK embassy in Kyiv.
I am grateful to our British friends for the important symbolic decision announced today to return the embassy to Kyiv. The United Kingdom became the twenty-first country to return a diplomatic mission to our capital. And this shows that we are not the only ones who believe in the victory of life over death,” he said in his latest video address to the nation.
Updated
Hello, this is Helen Livingstone here to bring you the latest on the war in Ukraine.
The stated intent of Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu to “introduce ‘new methods of warfare’ is a tacit admission that Russian progress is not going as intended,” the UK’s Ministry of Defence has written in its latest intelligence update.
While it may indicate an understanding that the war is not progressing as planned, it will take some time to translate this into adapted tactics, techniques and procedures, and then implement for improved operational effect particularly in regards to land-based manoeuvre warfare. Therefore, in the interim there is likely to be a continued reliance on bombardment as a means of trying to suppress Ukrainian opposition to Russian forces.
As a result, it is likely that Russian forces will continue to be frustrated by an inability to overcome Ukrainian defences quickly.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 22 April 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 22, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/tlniGPHrwc
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/t16sCzr7mP
Updated
Today so far...
That’s it from me, Johana Bhuiyan, in New York. Here’s what’s happened so far.
- Fears are growing for hundreds of civilians holed up in the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters. Russia’s defence ministry said it was ready to allow civilians to leave the steelworks if Ukrainian forces surrendered. But according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, Russian forces are continuing to drop bombs on the plant.
- The US military expects more than 20 countries to attend Ukraine-focused defence talks it will host in Germany next week that will focus in part on Kyiv’s long-term defense needs, the Pentagon said on Friday.
-
A senior EU official said Russia will likely increase its military attacks in eastern Ukraine and along the country’s coast. The “next couple of weeks” could be potentially decisive for the war, the official said.
- Western allies are preparing to offer Ukraine a series of “security guarantees” which should make the country “impregnable” to a future Russian invasion, Boris Johnson has said, as the Press Association reports.
-
A Russian military official, Rustam Minnekayev, said Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of its military operation. Russia intends to forge a land corridor between Crimea and Donbas, he said, adding that control of Ukraine’s south will give Russia another gateway to Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria.
-
Russia’s defence ministry has reported that one sailor died and 27 more remain missing after one of its premier warships, the missile cruiser Moskva, sank last week in the Black Sea south of the threatened Ukrainian port of Odesa.
-
Ukraine deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that “there is a possibility” a humanitarian corridor could be opened up out of the port of Mariupol on Saturday.
-
Russia is shifting its elite military units away from the besieged city of Mariupol to eastern Ukraine, where they “pounded away at cities across the region”, according to the Associated Press.
- Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed reports that “several long conversations” had been held with Ukraine today but he gave no details. Separately, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who has previously accused Ukraine of dragging out the peace process, said diplomatic efforts to end the war remained stalled.
-
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, will visit Moscow on Tuesday to meet with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, where he “hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently”, his spokesperson said. Guterres will also have a working meeting and lunch with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
- The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, held a call with Vladimir Putin this morning. An EU official said Michel urged the Russian leader to engage directly with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Kremlin said Putin accused the Ukrainian side of being “inconsistent” in negotiations. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said he was planning to hold phone calls with Zelenskiy and Putin in the coming days.
- Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave that could hold as many as 9,000 dead, local officials said. It comes after a US satellite imaging company released photos that appeared to match the site.
- The UN human rights office said it has seen growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, describing the war as a “horror story of violations against civilians”. The UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, said “almost every resident” of the town of Bucha had a story about the death of a relative, a neighbour or even a stranger.
- The head of the UN atomic watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said he will visit Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant next week. Grossi will head an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission “to deliver vital equipment and conduct radiological and other assessments at the site”, which was held by Russian forces for five weeks, the agency said in a statement.
- Boris Johnson has said he will close loopholes to ensure UK exports to India cannot end up being used in Russian weapons. Speaking in Delhi at the end of a two-day visit, the UK prime minister conceded the war in Ukraine could go on until the end of next year, and Russia could win. Johnson also announced that Britain is to reopen its Kyiv embassy.
Updated
Maxar Technologies, which collects and publishes satellite images of Ukraine, said it had spotted a second mass cemetery in Mariupol, Reuters is reporting. The company said it appears the cemetery has expanded over the last month and includes long trenches which may become new grave sites.
On Thursday, Maxar said it had spotted the first grave site, with 200 new graves appearing in March and April. The alleged mass grave could contain as many as 9,000 bodies, according to NBC News. The Guardian could not independently confirm the existence of the grave sites.
Updated
The European Commission said on Friday that European companies won’t violate sanctions if they pay for Russian gas in euros and dollars which are then converted into Russian rubles. Russia has demanded in a new decree that gas payments be delivered in rubles, which could run afoul of current sanctions on the country.
“EU companies could make a clear statement that they intend to fulfil their obligations under existing contracts and consider their contractual obligations regarding the payment already fulfilled by paying in euros or dollars, in line with the existing contracts, as before the adoption of the Decree,” the commission said in a document distributed to all the member states.
Updated
Austria’s finance minister, Magnus Brunner ,said in an interview with CNN that the country supported all sanctions on Russia except for a gas embargo. Austria is extremely reliant on Russian gas exports, he said, so the country had “no choice”.
“Once a sanction hits yourself more than the one targeted by the sanction, I think there’s not much use,” Brunner said.
The US and UK have already sanctioned Russian oil.
Updated
Russia is shifting its elite military units away from the besieged city of Mariupol to eastern Ukraine where they “pounded away at cities across the region”, according to the Associated Press.
Cities and villages across Donbas – an industrial region in the eastern part of Ukraine – were bombarded as the Kremlin sent over more than 100,000 new troops from Syria and Libya into Ukraine.
From the AP:
Mariupol has taken on outsize importance in the war. Capturing it would deprive the Ukrainians of a vital port and complete a land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Putin seized from Ukraine in 2014.
It would also enable Putin to throw more of his forces into the potentially climactic battle for the Donbas and its coal mines, factories and other industries, or what the Kremlin has now declared to be its main objective.
[Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council] reported that some 12 to 14 of Russia’s elite military units have, in fact, left Mariupol and begun moving to the east to take part in the fighting there.“It will now be difficult for our forces, because our guys in Mariupol were taking [those units] on themselves. It is their courage and feat,” he said.
Danilov also said Kyiv was able to deliver weapons via helicopter at great risk under cover of night to the Mariupol steelworks, which have been bombarded for weeks.
Updated
"There is a possibility" a humanitarian corridor out of Mariupol could open on Saturday, says Ukraine deputy prime minister
Ukraine deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that “there is a possibility” a humanitarian corridor could be opened up out of the port of Mariupol on Saturday, Reuters is reporting. Vereshchuk relayed the message in a video address to people waiting be evacuated from the besieged city.
“Watch the official announcements tomorrow morning. If all goes well, I will confirm,” she said.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said comments from a Russian commander earlier today indicating Russia planned to create a “land corridor” from the Donbas region in Ukraine to Moldova showed that the attack on Ukraine was only the beginning.
“One of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine. This will provide a land corridor to the Crimea, as well as influence the vital objects of the Ukrainian economy,” said Russian military commander Rustam Minnekaev on Friday at a meeting with the Union of Defense Industries. “Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population.”
Transistria is a separatist enclave in Moldova.
In a video address on Friday, Zelenskiy also said that the allies have begun to deliver the arms they’ve promised which “would help save the lives of thousands of people”, according to Reuters.
Updated
The pressure is on to impose sanctions on Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich after he failed to revive peace talks on a recent trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, Bloomberg is reporting. Unnamed US senior officials are pushing to renew talks to sanction Abramovich after his talks with the chief of staff of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not progress, sources told Bloomberg.
From Bloomberg:
The billionaire’s role as an unofficial mediator has been controversial from the start, with critics claiming Russia’s 10th-richest man was only seeking to protect his vast wealth from the penalties unleashed against other business leaders over President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
On the day the war started, Abramovich accepted a request from Zelenskiy, passed through an intermediary, to get involved in negotiations to end the fighting, according to three people familiar with the situation. He threw himself into trying to broker a cease-fire, shuttling between Moscow, Kyiv, Belarus and Istanbul for talks behind the scenes, they said.
Early on, Abramovich asked Zelenskiy to request that Western nations not sanction him while he was trying to act as a mediator, the people said.
Despite opposition from some members of his administration, US President Joe Biden honored Zelenskiy’s appeal and has not targeted the tycoon, according to the people familiar with the administration’s position.
Updated
Europe can get by without Russian gas for six months, but beyond that, the economic impact would be severe, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official has told Agence France-Presse, the agency writes.
Alfred Kammer, head of the IMF’s European department, urged countries in the region to take a series of steps to ease the blow, including reducing consumption to build up inventory.
The region relies on Russia for the vast majority of its energy needs, especially natural gas, and IMF economists looked at the economic cost of losing Moscow’s supply.
Speaking on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings, Kammer told AFP:
Over the first six months, Europe can deal with such a shutoff [by] having alternative supplies [and] using existing storage.
However, if that gas shut off were to last into the winter, and over a longer period, then that would have significant effects.
Western countries have considered putting an embargo on Russian energy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, while Moscow could also shut off exports to hit back at the damaging sanctions already imposed on the government.
The International Monetary Fund projects that a total loss of Russian gas and oil supplies could cost the European Union 3% of GDP, depending on the severity of the winter.
He called for steps to prepare for the possibility.
“There is no single option, which has a large impact, but lots of smaller measures will have a larger impact,” he said, including by finding alternative suppliers, which some countries already have begun to do.
Consumers also have an important role to play and governments can raise awareness among their population through “public campaigns to reduce energy consumption”.
“The consumer can act now,” he said, and reducing consumption meant more fuel could be stored in case supplies are interrupted.
Although the war in Ukraine has slowed growth sharply, Kammer said it “will not derail the recovery” and he does not expect a Europe-wide recession.
The major eurozone economies, with the exception of Spain, will be “weak in 2022” and will see a quarter or two of near-zero growth or even a technical recession with two negative quarters.
But the IMF expects these economies to recover in the second half of this year.
The Russian attack on its neighbor has caused a flood of about five million refugees, creating a challenge for European countries which face strains on their budgets as they deal with the influx.
Poland, which which has taken in the most Ukrainians, is particularly affected.
What happens to those people, mostly women and children, after the war remains a question.
“Some of these refugees will stay in Europe, I’m sure about that,” said Kammer, who noted that could be “a boon” for countries faced with ageing populations and a lack of workers.
“But it could be a bad for Ukraine if too many of the refugees are going to stay.”
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry has reported that one sailor died and 27 more remain missing after one of its premier warships, the missile cruiser Moskva, sank last week in the Black Sea south of the threatened Ukrainian port of Odesa.
A further 396 crew members were rescued, RIA news agency has said, citing Russia’s defence ministry on Friday, Reuters reports.
Moscow says the Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, sank after a fire sparked an ammunition blast. Ukraine says it hit the vessel with an anti-ship missile, an account backed by western intelligence findings and supported by recently emerging pictures and video.
Earlier this month, Ukraine said it had struck the Moskva with Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles while distracting its crew with an aerial drone, causing it to start sinking and forcing the crew of 500 to abandon ship.
The ship sank as it was being towed south towards the port of Sevastapol.
The apparent attack on and sinking of the Black Sea fleet’s flagship – 50 days after Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine – represents a symbolic blow to the Kremlin. The Moskva was the pride of its fleet and the most prestigious vessel involved in the war against Ukraine.
“The sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, is not just a significant loss, it is emblematic of the shambolic Russian military campaign,” said Michael Kofman, research programme director and Russia expert at the US government-funded Center for Naval Analyses.
Family members of crew had been demanding answers from the Russian government, after little information was forthcoming following the sinking.
Updated
Security guarantees will make Ukraine "impregnable" to future attack – British PM
Western allies are preparing to offer Ukraine a series of “security guarantees” which should make the country “impregnable” to a future Russian invasion, Boris Johnson has said, as the Press Association reports. Here’s more of what the British prime minister has been talking about during his visit to India.
Johnson said it was essential to step up immediate military support to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as he warned there was a “realistic possibility” that the conflict could drag on for a “long period”.
He said Britain was looking to send tanks to “backfill” in Poland so Soviet-era T-72s – with which Ukrainian crews are familiar – can be released to the government in Kyiv.
But, speaking in the Indian capital, Delhi, while on a visit, Johnson said a long-term vision for Ukraine’s place in the future “security architecture” of Europe also needed to be developed.
While he said it would not be the same as the Nato Article 5 guarantee – in which an attack on one member state of the US-led military alliance is considered to be an attack on all members – he hoped it would offer “deterrence by denial”.
Johnson said:
What the Ukrainians want – and I think are now going to get – is a collection of guarantees from like-minded countries about what we can do to back them up with weaponry, with training and with intelligence-sharing.
It will, I hope, enable the Ukrainians to offer deterrence by denial and make sure their territory is so fortified as to be impregnable to further attack from Russia. That is what we need to do.
Johnson earlier took what could be seen as a pessimistic or a realistic stance when he said that, having made a “catastrophic blunder”, Russian president Vladimir Putin could get bogged down in a “grinding” offensive that lasts at least the rest of this year but ends in military defeat for Ukraine.
Updated
The US military expects more than 20 countries to attend Ukraine-focused defence talks it will host in Germany next week that will focus in part on Kyiv’s long-term defense needs, the Pentagon said on Friday, Reuters reports.
However, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby appeared to play down expectations of announcements about long-term assistance at the 26 April talks.
“We’re not going into this with a pre-cooked set of endings here,” he said.
He added that about 40 countries were invited to attend the talks, which were not being organized under the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) alliance umbrella, and include non-Nato nation states.
Updated
Some countries have been moving their Ukrainian embassies back to Kyiv since Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s forces apparently deterred the Russian military, which had been advancing on the capital, then stalled and withdrew in recent weeks.
This includes the UK. But the US is not currently in active planning to do likewise, three sources familiar with “ongoing conversations” tell CNN.
Joe Biden’s administration, according to US state department officials, is still wary of possible Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital, not necessarily aimed at the US embassy, but generally, such as an errant missile strike.
“We are constantly reassessing and evaluating the security situation because the safety and security of our employees is our top priority,” a state department spokesperson told the channel on Friday.
The US ceased operations at the US embassy in Kyiv more than a month ago, but that closure is not permanent.
“We don’t have specifics on timing, but our team is actively planning and we very much look forward to resuming embassy operations in Ukraine to facilitate our support to the government and people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the Guardian’s US team is now taking the reins on our global, round-the-clock live blog on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and we’ll bring you developments as they happen over the next few hours.
Updated
Summary
It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand now:
- Fears are growing for hundreds of civilians holed up in the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters. Russia’s defence ministry said it was ready to allow civilians to leave the steelworks if Ukrainian forces surrendered. But according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, Russian forces are continuing to drop bombs on the plant.
- A senior EU official said Russia will likely increase its military attacks in eastern Ukraine and along the country’s coast. The “next couple of weeks” could be potentially decisive for the war, the official said.
- Russian military official, Rustam Minnekayev, said Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of its military operation. Russia intends to forge a land corridor between Crimea and Donbas, he said, adding that control of Ukraine’s south will give Russia another gateway to Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria.
- Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed reports that “several long conversations” had been held with Ukraine today but he gave no details. Separately, Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who has previously accused Ukraine of dragging out the peace process, said diplomatic efforts to end the war remained stalled.
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The UN secretary general, António Guterres, will visit Moscow on Tuesday to meet with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, where he “hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently”, his spokesperson said. Guterres will also have a working meeting and lunch with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
- The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, held a call with Vladimir Putin this morning. An EU official said Michel urged the Russian leader to engage directly with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Kremlin said Putin accused the Ukrainian side of being “inconsistent” in negotiations. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said he was planning to hold phone calls with Zelenskiy and Putin in the coming days.
- Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave that could hold as many as 9,000 dead, local officials said. It comes after a US satellite imagery company released photos that appeared to match the site.
- The UN human rights office said it has seen growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, describing the war as a “horror story of violations against civilians”. The UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, said “almost every resident” of the town of Bucha had a story about the death of a relative, a neighbour or even a stranger.
- The head of the UN atomic watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said he will visit Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant next week. Grossi will head an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission “to deliver vital equipment and conduct radiological and other assessments at the site”, which was held by Russian forces for five weeks, the agency said in a statement.
- Boris Johnson has said he will close loopholes to ensure UK exports to India cannot end up being used in Russian weapons. Speaking in Delhi at the end of a two-day visit, the UK prime minister conceded the war in Ukraine could go on until the end of next year, and Russia could win. Johnson also announced that Britain is to reopen its Kyiv embassy.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today as I hand the blog over to my colleague, Joanna Walters. I’ll be back on Monday. Thank you for reading.
UK gave sanctioned Russians ‘golden visas’ after first Ukraine invasion
Seven Russians now under sanctions were awarded controversial “golden visas” by the UK after Vladimir Putin’s regime first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the government has admitted.
The government closed the “tier 1 investor visa” scheme in February amid the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border as it prepared to broaden its occupation beyond Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Since the invasion, sanctions targeted at many of Russia’s richest businessmen have become a key part of the response by the UK and its allies.
The measures have also prompted awkward questions for the government, with critics accusing it of offering an open door to kleptocrats and oligarchs, who in some cases are thought to have expropriated wealth from the Russian state on a massive scale. Much of that wealth has been used to buy luxury property in London.
The golden visa scheme allowed people with at least £2m in investment funds and a UK bank account to apply for residency rights, along with their family. Before 2018 it is thought that minimal checks were carried out on investors or the source of their wealth.
The government revealed that 10 Russians who received golden visas are now subject to sanctions, an increase from the eight previously admitted, in a written answer to a question from Stephen Kinnock, Labour’s shadow immigration minister.
Here’s more on the meeting between the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow next week.
Guterres will also have a working meeting and lunch with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, a spokesperson for the UN chief, Eri Kaneko, told reporters.
Kaneko said Guterres “hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently”.
His office is also working with the Ukrainian government on scheduling and preparations for a visit to Ukraine, she said.
On Tuesday, the UN secretary general asked Putin to receive him in Moscow and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to receive him in Kyiv, in separate letters handed to their countries’ permanent missions to the UN.
Guterres also called for a four-day Orthodox Easter humanitarian pause in fighting in Ukraine beginning on Thursday to allow for the safe passage of civilians from areas of conflict and the delivery of humanitarian aid to hard-hit areas.
He was “not so much disappointed that his own personal call was not heeded, but more that there has been no truce”, his spokesperson said.
Updated
An embargo on Russian gas imports triggered by a further escalation of the war in Ukraine could plunge Germany into a recession, the Bundesbank warned on Friday, but Europe’s largest economy would probably shrink less severely than during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.
An immediate EU ban on Russian gas would cost Germany the equivalent of €165bn (£138bn) in lost output this year, according to the country’s central bank.
“In the severe crisis scenario, real GDP in the current year would fall by almost 2% compared to 2021,” the Bundesbank said in its latest monthly report.
Germany’s manufacturing-heavy economy would feel the painful consequences of gas-shortages for the coming years, the bank’s report said. “In addition, the inflation rate would be significantly higher for a longer period of time.”
Before the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian natural gas accounted for 55% of Germany’s gas needs, with roughly a third used for industrial production, including steel and chemicals.
“Natural gas prices are likely to rise the most, as Russian deliveries are difficult to replace in the short term,” the bank said.
However, in a heated German debate over the economic price the country should be prepared to pay to help cut off financial support for Putin’s war economy, some have taken the Bundesbank report as positive news.
“The economic slump would with high probability be less severe than during the corona crisis,” wrote conservative broadsheet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “It puts even more pressure on the government to justify itself”.
Ukraine’s top prosecutor has accused the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, of having a pre-hatched plan for his troops to torture, rape and execute civilians in Ukraine who refuse to capitulate.
Speaking to Sky News, Iryna Venediktova said her team is working on almost 8,000 war crimes cases from around Ukraine, including summary executions, sexual violence and the forced deportation of children to Russia.
There are a “huge number of cases” of Russian troops killing Ukrainians simply because they did not like them, Venediktova said.
In the Kyiv region alone, her team had information on more than 1,000 civilians killed in areas previously occupied by Russian forces, although the total number could well be higher, she said.
Asked whether she thought the shooting of civilians, execution-style, had been pre-planned by Russia before the invasion, Venediktova said:
I think it is a strategy of their chief of commander, because we see the same strategy in other countries.
They have Plan A: cities should capitulate, if a city does not capitulate it means Plan B: to scare this population to the maximum. Kill, rape, torture, and other brutal things.
It is a strategy of war.
A senior EU official said Russia will likely increase its military attacks in eastern Ukraine and along the country’s coast.
The “next couple of weeks” could be potentially decisive for the war, the official said, adding:
This is not a fairy tale with an imminent happy ending.
I think we are likely to see a very significant increase in the intensity of Russian military attacks in the east, I think we are likely to see an intensification of Russian military attacks along the coast.
Updated
UN secretary general to meet Putin in Moscow
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, will visit Moscow on Tuesday to meet with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, a spokesperson for Guterres said.
Guterres will also have a working meeting and lunch with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, the spokesperson said.
Updated
Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, confirmed reports that “several long conversations” had been held with Ukraine today but he gave no details, Reuters reports.
Separately, Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said diplomatic efforts to end the war remained stalled.
Lavrov, who has previously accused Ukraine of dragging out the peace process, told a briefing:
They have now stalled because our latest proposal that was handed to the Ukrainian negotiators some five days ago and formulated taking into account the comments we received from them remains unanswered.
The Kremlin said earlier this week that Moscow had submitted a new written proposal. In response, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had neither seen nor heard about the document.
In a phone call earlier today with the European Council president, Charles Michel, Vladimir Putin accused the Ukrainian side of being “inconsistent” in the negotiations.
Updated
Summary
It’s almost 7pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand now:
- Fears are growing for hundreds of civilians holed up in the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters. Russia’s defence ministry said it was ready to allow civilians to leave the steelworks if Ukrainian forces surrendered. But according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, Russian forces are continuing to drop bombs on the plant.
- Russian military official, Rustam Minnekayev, said Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of its military operation. Russia intends to forge a land corridor between Crimea and Donbas, he said, adding that control of Ukraine’s south will give Russia another gateway to Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria.
- The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, held a call with Vladimir Putin this morning. An EU official said Michel urged the Russian leader to engage directly with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Kremlin said Putin accused the Ukrainian side of being “inconsistent” in negotiations.
- Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said he was planning to hold phone calls with Zelenskiy and Putin in the coming days. When asked about peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, Erdoğan told reporters that he was “not without hope”.
- Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave that could hold as many as 9,000 dead, local officials said. It comes after a US satellite imagery company released photos that appeared to match the site.
- The UN human rights office said it has seen growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, describing the war as a “horror story of violations against civilians”. The UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, said “almost every resident” of the town of Bucha had a story about the death of a relative, a neighbour or even a stranger.
- The head of the UN atomic watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said he will visit Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant next week. Grossi will head an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission “to deliver vital equipment and conduct radiological and other assessments at the site”, which was held by Russian forces for five weeks, the agency said in a statement.
- Boris Johnson has said he will close loopholes to ensure UK exports to India cannot end up being used in Russian weapons. Speaking in Delhi at the end of a two-day visit, the UK prime minister conceded the war in Ukraine could go on until the end of next year, and Russia could win. Johnson also announced that Britain is to reopen its Kyiv embassy.
- A Ukrainian Antonov AN-26 military transport plane came down in a field near Mykhailivka, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region. Ivan Ariefiev, the military press secretary for the region, said investigators were working to establish the cause. The Guardian’s correspondents at the scene saw one dead man among the wreckage.
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Russia has opened a criminal case against a prominent opposition activist on suspicion of spreading false information about Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, his lawyer said. Vladimir Kara-Murza was detained outside his home in Moscow on 11 April, hours after CNN aired an interview in which he criticised Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you to bring you all the latest news in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of planning to “falsify” an independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, telling Ukrainians there not to give personal information to occupying forces.
Updated
Russian bombing on Azovstal plant does not stop, says Mariupol official
Russian forces are continuing to drop bombs on the Azovstal iron and steelworks, according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Fears are growing for hundreds of civilians holed up in the steel factory on Mariupol’s left bank, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, yesterday ordered his forces not to storm the factory complex after his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, admitted the Russian army was still fighting thousands of Ukrainian soldiers there.
According to local officials, between 300 and 1,000 people, including women and children, could still be trapped in the steelworks.
Andryushchenko told Associated Press:
Every day they drop several bombs on Azovstal. Fighting, shelling, bombing do not stop.
On Thursday, Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boichenko, accused Russia of hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave in the nearby village of Manhush.
Andryushchenko said:
The graves have been dug up and corpses are still being dumped there.
Initial estimates from the Ukrainians said the apparent mass graves could hold 9,000 bodies, but Andryushenko said there could be more.
Updated
A Ukrainian Antonov AN-26 military transport plane came down in a field near Mykhailivka, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Ivan Ariefiev, the military press secretary for the region, said investigators were working to establish the cause. A power line on the edge of the field had been broken.
The Guardian’s correspondents at the scene saw one dead man among the wreckage. Ariefiev said he was the only passenger.
Ariefiev said the two pilots of the Antonov survived and were being treated in hospital. The plane, said Ariefiev, was carrying out a technical flight.
Local residents said they did not hear a crash but saw the emergency services rush to the scene just after 9am. Guardian correspondents who were in the region that morning noticed fog.
Updated
The head of the UN atomic watchdog has said he will visit Ukraine’s Chornobyl nuclear plant next week.
Rafael Grossi will head an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to step up efforts to help prevent the danger of a nuclear accident during the conflict in the country, the agency said in a statement.
The team of nuclear safety, security and safeguards staff will be in Chornobyl from 26 April “to deliver vital equipment and conduct radiological and other assessments at the site”, which was held by Russian forces for five weeks before they withdrew on 31 March, it said.
Grossi said:
The IAEA’s presence at Chornobyl will be of paramount importance for our activities to support Ukraine as it seeks to restore regulatory control of the plant and ensure its safe and secure operation.
He added that more IAEA missions to Chornobyl and other nuclear facilities in Ukraine would follow within weeks.
Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, told Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, that his country was feeling the situation faced by Ukraine “as though it is happening to ourselves”, Reuters reports.
The war in Ukraine has garnered broad sympathy in Taiwan, with many seeing parallels between Russia’s invasion and military pressure from China, which views Taipei as its own territory.
Taiwan has joined western-led sanctions and donated $20m (£15.5m) for Ukrainian refugees, mostly raised by the public.
Speaking by video conference, Wu told Klitschko that Taiwan and Ukraine were both democracies “on the front line of resisting the expansion of authoritarianism”, the Taiwanese foreign ministry cited him as saying.
Wu said:
The Taiwanese government and people also face a high threat from the authoritarian regime across the Taiwan Strait, and therefore feel the current situation faced by Ukraine as though it is happening to ourselves.
Taiwan will donate $3m (£2.3m) to Kyiv city and $5m (£3.9m) to six Ukrainian medical institutions, Wu said.
Following their conversation, Wu tweeted a picture of himself talking to Klitschko, a former champion boxer, writing:
Champ, we’ll continue to stand with you & your people. Freedom will prevail!
Called @Vitaliy_Klychko to convey support from the people of #Taiwan for #Ukraine. The fighting spirit of the @Kyiv mayor is admirable. Champ, we'll continue to stand with you & your people. Freedom will prevail! JW pic.twitter.com/bhL8T4vzgA
— 外交部 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MOFA_Taiwan) April 22, 2022
Updated
British prime minister Boris Johnson’s trip to India has been dogged by the so-called “Partygate” controversy at home, and questions about how the UK can conclude a trade deal with India while the world’s largest democracy continues to offer limited criticism of Russian aggression in Ukraine. Heather Stewart in Delhi and Dan Sabbagh report for us on the latest development:
Boris Johnson has said he will close loopholes to ensure UK exports to India cannot end up being used in Russian weapons, as he conceded the war in Ukraine could go on until the end of next year, and Russia could win.
Speaking in Delhi at the end of a two-day visit, the UK prime minister warned that Vladimir Putin was resorting to a “grinding approach” in Ukraine; and suggested the UK would help to “backfill” countries including Poland if they provided heavy weaponry such as tanks to Kyiv.
Johnson was asked a report by the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), warning that India was one of a number of major routes for smuggling arms to Vladimir Putin’s regime.
He pointed to the ban on exporting technology products to Russia, saying: “We want to ensure we keep that tight. We’ll be making sure that we don’t allow any loopholes of any kind … we will take steps to make sure that stuff doesn’t go through other routes to Russia.”
Read more of Heather Stewart in Delhi and Dan Sabbagh’s report: Johnson vows to stop UK exports to India ending up in Russia
Updated
Here is Lorenzo Tondo’s latest report for us from Kyiv:
Fears are growing for hundreds of civilians holed up in the Azovstal steel factory on Mariupol’s left bank, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters.
According to local officials, between 300 and 1,000 people, including women and children, could still be trapped in the steelworks, a sprawling mass of tunnels and workshops spread over four square miles in the south-east of the city, scene of the worst humanitarian crisis of the nearly two-month war.
The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko, appealed on Friday for the “full evacuation” of its devastated city, where, according to local officials, 100,000 people remain trapped.
“We don’t know the precise civilian figure because we haven’t been able to get them out. We need a day’s ceasefire for this to happen,” Boichenko, who is no longer in Mariupol, said. “The civilians were living in desperate conditions in a network of underground tunnels, surrounded by Russian troops.’’
The Russian president Vladimir Putin described a plan to penetrate the complex as impractical, and called instead for blockade of the area “so that a fly can’t get through”. Putin told defence minister Sergei Shoigu, in remarks broadcast on state television: “There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground.”
However, due to the lack of telecommunication in the city, after the Russian troops bombed radio towers in Mariupol during the first days of invasion, concerns are rising over the fate of civilians and soldiers.
Read more of Lorenzo Tondo’s latest report for us from Kyiv: Fears for hundreds of civilians trapped in Mariupol steel plant
Updated
Russia’s embassy in Iceland has put out a statement accusing western countries of continuing to “actively ‘stuff’ Ukraine with heavy armament” and criticising the actions of the Icelandic government.
It says: “Among the countries that actively support the Ukrainian neo-nazis with weapons are also the UK, Canada, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and others” and goes on to single out Peter Stano, an EU spokesperson for external affairs.
The embassy says he “cynically declares the European commitment to a diplomatic settlement of the situation and claims that more weapons do not mean more war. It is obvious that there is no logic at all in such an approach. It seems that neither Europe nor the United States want peace in Ukraine, prompting Kyiv ‘to fight till the last Ukrainian’.”
The embassy is openly critical of the Icelandic government, saying:
Unfortunately, we have to state that Iceland also ‘contributes’ to ensuring the military supplies to Ukraine and thereby to prolonging the Ukrainian crisis. Iceland has organised 13 flights to transport military equipment. We hope that the Icelandic authorities are aware of responsibility for the negative consequences of such actions.
We would like to draw your attention that Russia reserves the right to consider foreign military cargo and equipment on the territory of Ukraine as a legitimate target.
At the same time, we would like to point out that the ‘pumping’ of the Kyiv regime with weapons will not lead to the results pursued by the west. The goals of the special military operation to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine set by the Russian authorities will definitely be achieved.
Updated
Here is a map with a bit of geographical context for those comments earlier by the deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, Rustam Minnekayev.
At a meeting in Russia’s central Sverdlovsk region, he said that the country intends to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine and forge a land corridor between Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and Donbas.
He also said that “Control over the south of Ukraine is another way to Transnistria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed.”
Here is what our Andrew Roth wrote earlier to explain the current situation in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria:
Transnistria is a Russian-controlled territory of Moldova that has hosted Russian troops since the fall of the Soviet Union. With Russian backing, Transnistria fought a war against Moldova in the 1990s that left the territory with de facto independence and a garrison of 1,500 Russian troops.
The region is recognised as part of Moldova. The unrecognised state is strongly influenced internationally by nostalgia for the Soviet Union and its affinity for Russia, which is fostered by state propaganda.
Updated
Russia has opened a criminal case against a prominent opposition activist on suspicion of spreading false information about Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, his lawyer said.
Vladimir Kara-Murza was detained outside his home in Moscow on 11 April, hours after CNN aired an interview in which he criticised Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Reuters reports he was later sentenced to 15 days in jail for disobeying police orders upon being detained, Kara-Murza’s lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, said at the time. Kara-Murza has not been formally charged and Prokhorov denies his client broke the law.
“Vladimir Kara-Murza is now at the main investigation Department of Russia’s Investigative Committee,” Prokhorov wrote on Facebook. “A criminal case has been opened... for ‘public dissemination of deliberately false information about Russia’s armed forces.’” Prokhorov did not say when precisely the case had been opened.
- This is Martin Belam back on the blog for an hour. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, held a call with Vladimir Putin this morning where he urged the Russian leader to engage directly with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, an EU official said.
Michel stressed in “no uncertain terms” the unacceptability of Russia’s war and detailed the sanction costs the EU is imposing on Russia, the EU official said.
He also called for a ceasefire in Ukraine on the occasion of the upcoming Orthodox Easter and for safe passage for civilians seeking to leave besieged cities such as Mariupol, the EU official said.
Call with President Putin @KremlinRussia_E
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) April 22, 2022
Strongly urged for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from #Mariupol and other besieged cities all the more on the occasion of Orthodox Easter.
Firmly reiterated the EU’s position: support for #Ukraine and her sovereignty, condemnation and sanctions for Russia’s aggression.
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) April 22, 2022
Our unity, principles and values are inviolable. pic.twitter.com/GxzylOpuwN
In Moscow’s readout of the call, the Kremlin said Putin told Michel he would only hold direct talks with Zelenskiy if ongoing discussions between the two countries produce concrete results.
Putin told Michel that Kyiv was showing it was not ready to seek mutually acceptable solutions and accused the Ukrainian side of being “inconsistent” in negotiations, the Kremlin said.
Updated
Ukraine has officially registered the Russian warship Moskva lying at the bottom of the Black Sea as a “national underwater cultural heritage site”, according to the Kyiv Independent’s Illia Ponomarenko.
Ukraine’s government has officially registered the Moskva cruiser wreck on the Black Sea bottom as a national underwater cultural heritage site 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1B53lKDd9z
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) April 22, 2022
Moskva, Russia’s flagship Black Sea missile cruiser, sank last week after an explosion caused by an unexplained fire, the Russian defence ministry said, while Ukraine said it had hit the ship with a missile or missiles.
The UK’s ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, said she’s heading back to Kyiv after Boris Johnson earlier announced the reopening of Britain’s embassy in the capital.
I'm heading back. Looking forward to working in Kyiv #Ukraine️ again. https://t.co/1lJRVqVQnR
— Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) April 22, 2022
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Russia 'ready' to allow evacuation from Azovstal steelworks 'when white flags are raised'
Russia’s defence ministry said it was ready to allow civilians to leave the Azovstal steelworks in the besieged city of Mariupol if Ukrainian forces surrender, AFP reports.
In a statement, the defence ministry said Russia is “ready at any moment” to announce a “humanitarian pause” for the evacuation of civilians.
The ceasefire would start with the “raising of white flags” by Ukraine’s forces “along the entire perimeter or in certain areas of Azovstal”, the ministry said.
If such signs are found in any part of the Azovstal metallurgical plant, Russia’s armed forces … will immediately stop any hostilities and provide a safe exit.
According to the ministry, civilians will be escorted to either territories controlled by Ukraine or to Russia “at the evacuees’ own discretion”.
It said Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered will be “guaranteed” their life.
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The mayor of Mariupol said “one clear day of ceasefire” is needed to evacuate civilians sheltering in the Azovstal steel iron and steelworks in the besieged Ukrainian city.
Hundreds of soldiers and civilians are believed to be in the massive plant that has become the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol.
On Thursday, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin ordered his forces not to storm the steelworks, calling instead for Russian troops to blockade the area “so that a fly can’t get through”.
Speaking to CNN today, Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko said:
The day before yesterday, we planned to open up an evacuation route that these people [inside the plant] could join.
However, the Russian forces continued bombarding the plant and shelling the plant and we weren’t able to get the people out of there.
Boichenko said the devastation of Mariupol has been “very painful and sad”, describing the city before the invasion of Russia as “blossoming”.
It was turning into a modern city. We were developing it as a modern, state-of-the-art city to fulfil people’s dreams as we imagined.
I feel as if my heart has been torn out.
Updated
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said he was planning to hold phone calls with Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy and Russia’s Putin in the coming days.
When asked about peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, Erdoğan told reporters that he was “not without hope”, adding:
Our friends will get in touch with them today, we plan to hold a call again with (Russian president Vladimir) Putin and (Ukrainian president Volodymyr) Zelenskiy today or tomorrow.
He added:
With the calls, we plan to carry the process in Istanbul to the leaders’ level.
Updated
FC Desna’s stadium in Chernihiv, 100 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, has suffered huge damage due to heavy shelling in the area. A large crater can be seen in the middle of the playing field, while the stands and other facilities are either crumbling or covered in debris.
Desna were playing in the Ukrainian Premier League before it was suspended due to the ongoing Russian invasion, and played their first European game in 2020, against Wolfsburg in the Europa League.
The stadium, officially named the Chernihiv Olympic Sports Training Centre, was once named after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
Moldova has submitted a first questionnaire on European Union membership, the country’s president, Maia Sandu said.
Today #Moldova🇲🇩 submitted the 1st questionnaire for #EU membership to EU Ambassador @JanisMazeiks as we take a step closer to our accession bid to the EU🇪🇺. We are ready to do our part swiftly and diligently to give Moldova a chance for a better, safer & more prosperous future. pic.twitter.com/04SMFKKa40
— Maia Sandu (@sandumaiamd) April 22, 2022
Japan says disputed islands ‘illegally occupied’ by Russia
Japan has described four disputed islands as “illegally occupied” by Russia for the first time in nearly two decades amid deteriorating relations over the war in Ukraine.
The islands, which Moscow calls the Kurils and Tokyo the Northern Territories, have been held by Russia and claimed by Japan.
In its annual diplomatic report published today, the Japanese foreign ministry states that the “greatest concern between Japan and Russia is the Northern Territories”, calling them “Japanese territories over which Japan holds sovereign rights, but are currently illegally occupied by Russia”.
Japan has not referred to the islands as being “illegally occupied” since 2003, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Japan and Russia have long been engaged in attempts to agree to a post-second world war treaty, but the Japanese foreign ministry said the Ukraine crisis would stall talks with Russia.
Last month, Moscow said it would drop the talks, citing the “impossibility” of continuing discussions as Tokyo was “striving to cause harm to the interest of our country”.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the islands are “inalienable territory of the Russian Federation”.
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Johnson: Russian victory in Ukraine a 'realistic possibility'
The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, has been speaking to reporters at a press conference in New Delhi. Johnson was asked what pressure he has exerted on India – and what more he will exert – to stand up to Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Johnson said India has “come out and been very strong in their language about what’s happened in Bucha”.
He acknowledged that a Russian military victory in Ukraine is a “realistic possibility”, adding:
Putin has a huge army. [But] he has a very difficult political position because he’s made a catastrophic blunder.
The only option he now has really is to continue to try to use his his appalling, grinding approach – led by artillery – trying to grind the Ukrainians down. And he’s very close to securing a land bridge in Mariupol.
The situation is “unpredictable” at this stage, Johnson said.
But what we’ve also seen is the incredible heroism of the Ukrainians and their willingness to fight.
And I’ll tell you something: I think, no matter what military superiority Vladimir Putin may be able to bring to bear in the next few months – and I agree it could be it could be a long period, he will not be able to conquer the spirit of the Ukrainian people.
He added:
We’ve got to look at what more we can do militarily. We’ve got to keep intensifying the economic sanctions. And that’s what we’re doing. We want to make sure that there is wave after wave of intensifying pressure on on Putin.
Updated
UN warns of ‘a horror story of violations against civilians’ in Ukraine
The United Nations human rights office said it has seen growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, describing the war as a “horror story of violations against civilians”.
The UN monitoring mission in Ukraine has documented the unlawful killing of 50 people in the town of Bucha, including by summary execution, it said in a statement.
The UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, said “almost every resident of Bucha” had a story about the death of a relative, a neighbour or even a stranger, adding:
We know much more needs to be done to uncover what happened there and we also know Bucha is not an isolated incident.
The mission has received allegations of more than 300 unlawful killings of civilians in the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy, all areas that were previously occupied by Russian armed forces, it said.
Allegations of sexual violence against women, men, girls and boys by members of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine have “increasingly surfaced”, it said.
Bachelet said:
Our work to date has detailed a horror story of violations perpetrated against civilians. First and foremost, this senseless war must stop.
She urged all those fighting to strictly respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law, adding:
This means distinguishing between civilian and military objects. It means not targeting or deliberately killing civilians. It means not committing sexual violence.
People, including prisoners of war, must not be tortured. Civilians, prisoners and others hors de combat must be treated humanely.
Updated
Britain to reopen embassy in Kyiv
Britain is to reopen its Kyiv embassy, Boris Johnson has announced, more than two months after moving it out of the Ukrainian capital before the Russian invasion.
Since the embassy’s closure in February, the UK has retained a diplomatic presence in Ukraine, but has not been providing in-person consular assistance
The Foreign Office (FCDO) said at that time that the embassy was relocating temporarily and staff were operating from an embassy office in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.
However, the embassy is expected to reopen early next month after Russian forces were pushed back or withdrawn from the region around Kyiv in the face of Ukrainian resistance.
The announcement, which the prime minister made at a press conference during his trip to India, comes after he met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during an unannounced visit to Kyiv earlier this month.
Updated
Our Russia affairs correspondent Pjotr Sauer tweets that earlier comments by a Russian military official that Moscow plans to control the whole of southern Ukraine to give Russia another gateway to Transnistria represent the “most concrete Russian threat to Moldova” since the start of the conflict.
The most concrete Russian threat to Moldova that we have seen since the start of the war https://t.co/EXaydZMhDW
— Pjotr Sauer (@PjotrSauer) April 22, 2022
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong with you as we unpack all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Today so far …
- Russian military official Rustam Minnekayev says Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of its military operation. “Control over the south of Ukraine is another way to Transnistria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed,” he said at a meeting in Russia’s central Sverdlovsk region, referring to a breakaway pro-Russian region of Moldova.
- Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave, the city’s mayor said, as a US satellite imagery company released photos that appeared to match the site. The graves could hold as many as 9,000 dead, the Mariupol city council said yesterday in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
- The mayor of Mariupol has issued a new appeal for the “full evacuation” of the southern Ukrainian city, which Russia claims has fallen into its hands apart from the Azovstal metalworks, which President Vladimir Putin has ordered to be blockaded.
- Putin’s decision to blockade Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant probably indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance in the city and free up Russian forces to be deployed in eastern Ukraine, British intelligence suggests. US officials have dismissed Putin’s claim that his forces have “liberated” Mariupol as disinformation.
- There will be no humanitarian corridors open today in Ukraine, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk has announced, due to “the danger on the routes”.
- Russia’s defence ministry said it struck 58 military targets in Ukraine overnight, including sites where troops, fuel depots and military equipment were concentrated.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of planning to “falsify” an independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
- The physical damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure has reached $60bn and will rise further as the war continues, World Bank President David Malpass has said. Ukraine needs $7bn each month to keep its economy afloat amid the “economic losses” inflicted by Russia, Zelenskiy has said.
- Zelenskiy said Russia rejected a proposed Easter truce, but that he remains hopeful of prospects for peace.
- Nato must avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia that could lead to a third world war, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with Der Spiegel. Germany will supply Ukraine with heavy weaponry very quickly through a three way exchange with Ukraine and some of Germany’s Nato partners, the country’s Europe minister, Anna Lührmann said.
- UK prime minister Boris Johnson has revealed that dozens of Ukrainian soldiers are training in the UK, learning how to use 120 British armoured vehicles before returning with them to fight.
- Plans for Pope Francis to meet in Jerusalem in June with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who has backed Russia’s war in Ukraine, have been suspended by the Vatican.
- The EU is urging people to drive less, turn down air conditioning and work from home three days a week, to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas.
- Counter-terror police from the UK gathering evidence of potential war crimes in Ukraine say they have been struck by the “incredibly harrowing” material and witness accounts from the frontline of the conflict.
- Russia has slapped “indefinite’ travel bans on US vice- president Kamala Harris and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg as well as dozens of prominent Americans and Canadians in retaliation for sanctions.
- Seven people have been killed after a huge fire broke out at a key Russian defence research institute in Tver, north-west of Moscow.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. I am now handing you over to Léonie Chao-Fong.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images that have been sent to us from Ukraine over the newswires.
Updated
Russian military official: plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine, open gateway to Transnistria
A Russian military official is being quoted this morning saying that it intends to control the whole of southern Ukraine.
The Interfax news agency reports the deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, Rustam Minnekayev, said it plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of the military operation.
Reuters notes he was also cited as saying that Russia planned to forge a land corridor between Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and Donbas.
And in a line that will be concerning to Chișinău, he is also reported to have said that control of Ukraine’s south will give Russia another gateway to Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria.
“Control over the south of Ukraine is another way to Transnistria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed,” Tass quoted Minnekayev as saying at a meeting in Russia’s central Sverdlovsk region.
Updated
German chancellor Scholz: 'To avoid an escalation towards Nato is a top priority for me'
Nato must avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia that could lead to a third world war, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with Der Spiegel when asked about Germany’s failure to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine.
Reuters reports he said there was no rule book that stated when Germany could be considered a party to the war in Ukraine.
“That’s why it is all the more important that we consider each step very carefully and coordinate closely with one another,” he was quoted as saying. “To avoid an escalation towards Nato is a top priority for me.
“That’s why I don’t focus on polls or let myself be irritated by shrill calls. The consequences of an error would be dramatic.”
Updated
Germany will supply Ukraine with heavy weaponry very quickly through a three way exchange with Ukraine and some of Germany’s Nato partners, the country’s Europe minister, Anna Lührmann, told BBC radio.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has been facing a storm of criticism domestically and overseas for his lukewarm approach to meeting Ukrainian calls to supply heavy weaponry.
The criticism has also been coming from Greens inside the German coalition government, and there is likely to be a motion in the Bundestag tabled by the conservative CDU backing the delivery of heavy weapons .
But Lührmann, herself a Green, said Germany was completing a three-way exchange in which Nato partners will send heavy equipment to Ukraine that its army are trained to use, while Berlin will then refurbish the partners with modern German equipment.
She said: “We are getting ready to supply heavy weapons by way of a three way exchange. What is the priority right now is Ukraine gets these heavy weapons as soon as possible. We have some Nato partners who can supply their weapons that they can do swiftly and we will refurbish them”. She said these weapons including tanks could be supplied “very fast”, but set no timeline.
She said Ukraine was not well-equipped to use Nato weaponry, but could use old Soviet weaponry. It is expected Nato member Slovenia will hand to Ukraine several T-72 main tanks, and receive the Marder infantry fighting vehicle and the Fuchs wheeled armoured vehicle from Germany in return.
Lührmann also urged Nato partners not to get involved in finger-pointing, adding she hoped Nato partners would follow the German example and take as many as 360,000 Ukrainians refugees. In remarks likely to be directed at London, she said: “I hope other partners in Nato will also be able to welcome as many Ukrainians.”
On a visit to London, she also stressed she saw little point in airing differences within her governing coalition. “The important thing is that we remain united – anything else does not help anyone but Putin. Pointing fingers does not help here”.
She added the German government from the very first day had been working on phasing out imports on fossil fuels from Russia. “Oil imports from Russia would be phased out within this year and very soon gas will follow.”
Updated
Plans for Pope Francis to meet in Jerusalem in June with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who has backed Russia’s war in Ukraine, have been suspended, the pope has told an Argentinian newspaper.
Reuters reports Francis told La Nación in an interview that the plan was “suspended” because Vatican diplomats advised that such a meeting “could lend itself to much confusion at this moment”.
Pope Francis has been outspoken about the conflict in Ukraine, and has been pictured at the Vatican holding a Ukrainian flag from the town of Bucha, which he described as being martyred.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said it struck 58 military targets in Ukraine overnight, including sites where troops, fuel depots and military equipment were concentrated.
Reuters reports the ministry said it had also struck three targets using high-precision missiles in Ukraine, including an S-300 air defence system and a large concentration of Ukrainian troops with their equipment. The claims have not been independently verified.
On Telegram, Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk Oblast, has posted an image of a damaged car tyre with the message:
We will try to get to the southern part of Rubizhne by car and bring food there, because people are waiting to be taken away. Unfortunately, the evacuation bus did not arrive – heavy artillery fire began. The Russians are not allowing the civilian population to be saved, they are blocking people in cities that are constantly under fire.
❗️❗️Голова Луганської ОДА (ОВА) Сергій Гайдай: Росіяни зривають евакуацію - Рубіжне під обстрілами, автобусу не дістатися. Ми намагатимемося доїхати до південної частини Рубіжного на автівках.https://t.co/4hi9dNwKhk pic.twitter.com/2WkRX7c41c
— Верховна Рада України (@verkhovna_rada) April 22, 2022
We have a short video report on the fire in Tver. Seven people have been killed after a huge fire broke out at a key Russian defence research institute in Tver, north-west of Moscow, according to reports.
Local authorities said 25 people had also been injured in Thursday’s fire, Tass news agency reported, citing emergency services, and that at least 10 people were missing.
The death toll was initially put at five but Tass said it had increased to seven.
“We confirm a number of seven deaths at the moment,” Tass cited the source as saying. It added that the number of casualties could increase.
Counter-terror police from the UK gathering evidence of potential war crimes in Ukraine say they have been struck by the “incredibly harrowing” material and witness accounts from the frontline of the conflict.
The Metropolitan police’s war crimes team, which is a unit within its counter-terrorism command (CTC), said it had already received around 50 referrals from people with a link to the UK, including those who have directly fled the conflict in the last two months since Russia began invading.
Det chief supt Dominic Murphy, providing an update on the evidence gathering operation as CTC head of operations, told the PA Media news agency: “What we’re seeing is incredibly harrowing, beyond comprehension. In not far off 17 years in counterterrorism, (it is) some of the worst possible footage you could imagine seeing.”
He said it would be up to the judicial authority to decide whether the material and testimonies gathered so far – which are being tested to a UK evidential standard – could be used to support a charge of genocide.
Murphy said: “Does it provide evidence of a war crime? Quite possibly. Does it provide evidence of other international crimes? Quite possibly. And then it’s for those prosecuting agencies that we provide the information to to make those sorts of judgments and decisions.”
Scotland Yard announced last month that it was supporting the international criminal court probe into alleged war crimes, and appealed for anyone with direct evidence to come forward.
Updated
The Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who is chair of the defence select committee in the UK parliament, has told Sky News that the government in the UK needed to plan for the long-term implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said:
Our policy in Ukraine began back in 2014, under a very different prime minister, who sought to arm and train the Ukrainian forces. That’s been upgraded today. We’re moving even further than that.
And there is going to be a lull around the corner where Ukraine activities will die down, for us to then look at domestic affairs. The security in Europe is about to decay over the next decade. We’re still absent of a strategy.
You know, what does all this weapon systems that we’re giving to Ukraine, where does it lead to? Are we content with seeing part of Donbas remain in Russians hands? Or are we going to go back to 2000, pre-2014 borders, and push Russia out?
This is where I would like to go. Otherwise, Putin will simply do all this again, because he’ll survive, and then he’ll attack another country in a couple of years’ time.
Updated
Our diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour tweets that Germany is planning to supply Nato with new heavy weaponry, which will facilitate the transfer of older equipment to Ukraine that the armed forces there are already trained to use.
German Europe minister (Green) @AnnaLuehrmann says govt working on 3 way deal that will see Germany supply heavy weaponry including tanks "very fast" to Nato partners that will then send to Ukraine equivalent older weaponry that Ukr is trained to use. Ru gas imports end v soon.
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) April 22, 2022
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has been in Bucharest this morning, meeting Romania’s prime minister Nicolae Ciucă. He tweeted pictures of them together and said:
We discussed developing trade, energy and infrastructure cooperation, focused on ways to diversify routes for Ukrainian exports. Grateful to Romania for supporting Ukraine and welcoming Ukrainian refugees.
Prime Minister of Romania @NicolaeCiuca received me in Bucharest today. We discussed developing trade, energy and infrastructure cooperation, focused on ways to diversify routes for Ukrainian exports. Grateful to Romania for supporting Ukraine and welcoming Ukrainian refugees. pic.twitter.com/oIoHUO70KS
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) April 22, 2022
Updated
EU urges people to drive less and work from home to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas
The EU is urging people to drive less, turn down air conditioning and work from home three days a week, to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas.
The European Commission says the measures, drawn up with the International Energy Agency, would save households close to €500 a year on average.
If all EU citizens followed the nine-point plan, entitled “Playing My Part,” this would save enough oil to fill 120 super-tankers and enough natural gas to heat almost 20m homes.
The EU and IEA said:
People across Europe have helped Ukraine by making donations or aiding refugees directly, and many would like to do more. Most households are also experiencing higher energy bills because of the energy crisis exacerbated by the war. Using less energy is not only an immediate way for Europeans to reduce their bills, it also supports Ukraine by reducing the need for Russian oil and gas, thereby helping to reduce the revenue streams funding the invasion.
According to the plan, turning down the thermostat by 1C would save about 7% of the energy used for heating, while setting an air conditioner 1C warmer could reduce the amount of electricity used by up to 10%.
- Turn down the heating in the winter and use less air conditioning in the summer.
- Adjust the boiler’s settings.
- Use their car more economically.
- Reduce their speed on highways, with the car air conditioning turned down.
- Leave their car at home on Sundays in large cities.
- Walk or cycle short journeys instead of driving.
- Use public transport.
- Use the train instead of flying.
Updated
The mayor of Mariupol has issued a new appeal for the “full evacuation” of the southern Ukrainian city which Russia claims has fallen into its hands apart from the Azovstal metalworks, which President Vladimir Putin has ordered to be blockaded.
“We need only one thing – the full evacuation of the population. About 100,000 people remain in Mariupol,” Reuters reports mayor Vadym Boichenko said on national television.
Updated
The Ukraine armed forces have issued their latest operational report on the war. As well as suggesting there has been Russian activity across large swathes of the east of the country, they claim to have inflicted more losses on the Russian forces:
According to the available information, on 20 April 20, another consignment of wounded servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian federation (about 220 people) and more than 50 bodies of the killed invaders were taken to the central district hospital of Novoaydar.
In addition, the battalion tactical group of the 136th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District, operating in the Kurakhiv area, suffered significant casualties (up to 250 men) and lost up to 10 rocket and artillery.
The operational report also claims that the personnel of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District did not get paid by Russia.
Ukraine’s armed forces also allege more mistreatment of civilians, claiming:
In the temporarily occupied territories, Russian enemy units continue to block the movement of local people, looting and [making] the humanitarian crisis - destroying critical infrastructure and blocking the delivery of humanitarian goods from Ukraine. There have been cases of executions of civilians and volunteers.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Ukraine’s parliament has issued updated figures for child casualties of the war on Twitter. They say the total number of children affected by the Russian invasion is 594. There have been 208 deaths and 386 injuries among the nation’s children.
‼️Більше ніж 594 дитини постраждали в Україні внаслідок повномасштабної збройної агресії Російської Федерації, повідомляють ювенальні прокурори.
— Верховна Рада України (@verkhovna_rada) April 22, 2022
Станом на ранок 22 квітня офіційне число загиблих дітей не змінилося - 208. Зросла кількість поранених - 386.https://t.co/mjO2yIQ9xb
The numbers have not been independently verified, and do not include casualty or deaths in besieged areas of the country such as Mariupol.
Updated
There will be no humanitarian corridors open today in Ukraine, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk has announced on Telegram. She said:
Due to the danger on the routes today, 22 April, there will be no humanitarian corridors. I appeal to all those who are waiting for the evacuation: be patient, please hold on!
Earlier this week, the country went three consecutive days with no escape routes fro civilians being arranged. Four buses carrying 80 people did reach the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday after escaping in a convoy from Mariupol.
- This is Martin Belam taking over the blog. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
The physical damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure has reached $60bn and will rise further as the war continues, World Bank President David Malpass has said.
Malpass told a World Bank conference on Ukraine’s financial assistance needs that the early estimate of “narrow” damage costs does not include the growing economic costs of the war to Ukraine.
“Of course the war is still ongoing, so those costs are rising,” Malpass said.
During an address to leaders of the World Bank and IMF via video link on Thursday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine needs $7bn each month to keep its economy afloat.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images to land on our newswires out of Ukraine today.
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UK training Ukrainian soldiers to use British armoured vehicles
Boris Johnson has revealed that dozens of Ukrainian soldiers are training in the UK, learning how to use 120 British armoured vehicles before returning with them to fight in the war against Russia.
British forces are also training Ukrainian counterparts in Poland on how to use anti-aircraft missiles, the prime minister said.
I can say that we are currently training Ukrainians in Poland in the use of anti-aircraft defence, and actually in the UK in the use of armoured vehicles,” Johnson said.
Britain has agreed to send at least 120 armoured vehicles, 80 of which are the Mastiff, Husky and Wolfhound protected mobility vehicles, which the British army says are designed to be used in “combat, combat support and combat service roles” driving troops behind and up to the frontlines.
The other 40 vehicles are for combat reconnaissance, including the Spartan, which can carry four soldiers plus a crew of three, Samaritan ambulances, Sultan armoured command vehicles, and Samson armoured recovery vehicles.
Training on them takes a few weeks, defence sources said, largely so that the Ukrainians can become familiar with the control systems available.
British forces in Poland are understood to be training the Ukrainian military in using the Starstreak air defence missile system and the Stormer vehicles from which the weapons are launched.
We are moving, in conjunction with our allies, to providing new types of equipment that perhaps the Ukrainians wouldn’t have had previous experience of, so it’s only sensible that they get the requisite training to make the best use of it,” Johnson’s spokesperson said.
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Ukraine needs $7bn a month to keep its economy afloat, Zelenskiy says
Ukraine needs $7bn each month to keep its economy afloat amid the “economic losses” inflicted by Russia, President Zelenskiy has said.
Zelenskiy addressed leaders of the World Bank and IMF via video link on Thursday:
The Russian troops are deliberately destroying all facilities in our country that could provide an economic basis for life. Railway stations, food warehouses, bakery plants, oil terminals, etc …
As of now, given the economic downturn and broken economic ties, we need up to $7bn in financial support each month. Ukraine will need hundreds of billions of dollars to recover from this war. I’m sure each of you has these calculations, I’m sure of it.”
Updated
Azovstal blockage to free up Russian forces for deployment in east, UK MoD says
Putin’s decision to blockade Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance in the city and free up Russian forces to be deployed in eastern Ukraine, British intelligence suggests.
A report released just before 7am BST reads:
Putin’s decision to blockade the Azovstal steel plant likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol and free up Russian forces to be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine.
A full ground assault by Russia on the plant would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness.
In the eastern Donbas, heavy shelling and fighting continues as Russia seeks to advance further towards settlements including Krasnyy Lyman, Buhayikva, Barvinkove, Lyman and Popasna as part of their plans for the region.
Despite Russia’s renewed focus they are still suffering from losses sustained earlier in the conflict. In order to try and reconstitute their depleted forces, they have resorted to transiting inoperable equipment back to Russia for repair.”
(1/4)
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 22, 2022
Putin's decision to blockade the Azovstal steel plant likely indicates a desire to contain Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol and free up Russian forces to be deployed elsewhere in eastern Ukraine.
Updated
Satellite images appear to show mass graves near Mariupol
Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave, the city’s mayor said on Thursday, as a US satellite imagery company released photos that appeared to match the site.
The mayor, Vadym Boichenko, said Russian trucks had collected corpses from the streets of the port city and had transported them to the nearby village of Manhush. They were then secretly thrown into a mass grave in a field next to the settlement’s old cemetery, he said.
The invaders are concealing evidence of their crimes. The cemetery is located near a petrol station to the left side of a circular road. The Russians have dug huge trenches, 30 metres wide. They chuck people in.”
“The bodies of the dead were being brought by the truckload and actually simply being dumped in mounds,” an aide to Boychenko, Piotr Andryushchenko, said on Telegram.
The graves could hold as many as 9,000 dead, the Mariupol city council said on Thursday in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
The mayor estimated that more than 20,000 Mariupol residents had been killed since Russian forces began attacking the city during the early days of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Most bodies had now been removed, he said, with some disposed of in mobile crematoriums.
Later on Thursday, the US company Maxar Technologies released images of what appeared to be a mass grave in the same area. The site had been expanded in recent weeks to contain more than 200 new graves, Maxar said.
Russia plans to 'falsify' independence referendum in Kherson, Zelenskiy says
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of planning to “falsify” an independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Zelenskiy urged residents of areas under Russian occupation to not provide any personal information, like their passport numbers, to the Russian forces, in a video message aired late on Thursday evening.
I urge the residents of the southern regions of Ukraine – Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions – to be very careful about what information you provide to the invaders. And if they ask you to fill out some questionnaires, leave your passport data somewhere, you should know – this is not to help you …
This is aimed to falsify the so-called referendum on your land, if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show. And this is the reality. Be careful.”
Zelenskiy also issued a warning to ‘Kherson People’s Republics’ saying their plans “are not going to fly”.
“If someone wants a new annexation, it can only lead to new powerful sanctions strikes on Russia. You will make your country as poor as Russia hasn’t been since the 1917 civil war. So it is better to seek peace now.”
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments until my colleague, Martin Belam, takes the reins a little later in the day.
It is just past 7am in Ukraine. Here’s what we know so far:
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Russia plans to “falsify” an independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed.
Zelenskiy urged residents of areas under Russian occupation to not provide any personal information, like their passport numbers, to the Russian forces, in a video message aired late on Thursday evening. - Russia has been hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed by shelling in a new mass grave, the city’s mayor said, as a US satellite imagery company released photos that appeared to match the site.
- Civilians are trapped under buildings in Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks plant, deputy commander Svyatoslav Palamar from Ukraine’s Azov regiment has said. “We have wounded and dead inside the bunkers. Some civilians remain trapped under the collapsed buildings,” he told the BBC. Some children are believed to be as young as three months old.
- US officials have dismissed Vladimir Putin’s claim that his forces have “liberated” the port city of Mariupol as disinformation. The Russian president made the claim despite an admission by his defence minister that Russia’s military was still battling thousands of Ukrainian troops holed up in Azovstal steelworks.
- Western officials said Putin is “still in a position to win” in Ukraine despite failing in his pre-war objectives. Russia had started to address some of the issues that had hindered its army at the start of the invasion, one official said.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Russia rejected a proposed Easter truce, but that he remains hopeful of prospects for peace. Earlier this week Russia rejected the same request from the UN, claiming it was not “sincere” and would give Ukrainian fighters more time to arm themselves.
- Zelenskiy also told leaders of the World Bank and IMF that Ukraine will need “hundreds of billions of dollars” to recover from war. Ukraine needs $7bn each month to keep its economy afloat amid the “economic losses” inflicted by Russia, Zelenskiy said via video link. He also proposed a special war tax on Russia. World Bank president David Malpass said the physical damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure has reached $60bn.
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Germany will provide a further €37m ($40.12m) to Ukraine for reconstruction as a result of the war, Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper reported, citing development ministry sources.
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Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, confirmed war crimes experts are helping Ukraine “to ensure the inevitability of Russia’s responsibility”. The United States said it has also been in contact with Ukraine’s prosecutor and is assisting with the preservation and collection of evidence of war crimes committed by Russia, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said. More than 7,600 war crimes committed by Russia have been recorded, Venediktova claimed.
- Ukraine’s deputy prime minister apologised to residents of Mariupol for failed evacuation efforts from the besieged port city. She added that authorities will not give up. Officials estimate that 100,000 people are currently trapped in the city.
- The US defence secretary will host Ukraine-focused defence talks with allies in Germany next week, the Pentagon has confirmed. Lloyd Austin will meet allies on 26 April at the Ramstein Air Base in south-western Germany, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. The pentagon also confirmed newly disclosed ‘Ghost’ drones are part of America’s latest arms package for Ukraine.
- Russia has slapped “indefinite’ travel bans on US vice president Kamala Harris and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg as well as dozens of prominent Americans and Canadians in retaliation for sanctions imposed over Ukraine. The Russian foreign ministry said the travel restrictions on 29 Americans and 61 Canadians - which also includes defence officials, business leaders and journalists from both countries - would remain in effect indefinitely.
- UK prime minister Boris Johnson revealed that dozens of Ukrainian soldiers are training in the UK, learning how to use 120 British armoured vehicles before returning with them to fight in the war against Russia. British forces are also training Ukrainian counterparts in Poland on how to use anti-aircraft missiles, the prime minister said.
- About 120,000 civilians are blocked from leaving Mariupol, Zelenskiy said. Three school buses filled with people from Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia today after crossing through territory held by Russian forces, but Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said the number of evacuees was far smaller than had been hoped for.
- Russian forces captured dozens of villages in the eastern Donetsk region on Thursday, an aide to Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said.
- The bodies of 1,020 civilians are being stored in morgues in and around Kyiv after Russian troops withdrew, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Olga Stefanishyna, told Agence France-Presse. Her comments came after police said they discovered the remains of nine civilians in the town of Borodianka, 54km (34 miles) from the capital, buried in communal graves and showing signs of torture.
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Joe Biden announced that the US will provide another $800m (£614m) military assistance package to Ukraine to “further augment Ukraine’s ability to fight in the east, in the Donbas region”. The new US weapon deliveries will include 72 howitzers and their towing vehicles along with 144,000 artillery rounds and more than 120 drones tailored for Ukraine’s needs. Biden also announced that the US will accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees under a new programme.
- Seven people were killed after a huge fire broke out at a key Russian defence research institute in Tver north-west of Moscow, according to reports. Local authorities said 25 people had also been injured in Thursday’s fire, Tass news agency reported, citing emergency services, and that at least 10 people were missing.
As usual, please feel free to reach out to me by email or Twitter for any tips or feedback.
