The Pentagon says the majority of Russian forces that had been around the port city of Mariupol have left and headed north, leaving about 2,000 troops there.
Catch up on all of Friday's developments with our blog.
Key events
- US officials say shared intelligence helped sink Russian ship Moskva
- Belarusian President didn't expect war to 'drag on' for 10 weeks
- UN attempting to evacuate civilians from Azovstal and Mariupol
- Western Ukrainian city warns of potential Russian missile strikes
- US and Germany won't recognise Russian territorial gains in Ukraine
- Civilians to be evacuated from Mariupol on Friday
Live updates
By Michael Doyle
That is all for the blog this evening
We are closing this blog for the evening.
Thank you to those who read the blog throughout the day.
You can stay up to date with the latest news online or on the ABC News app.
By Michael Doyle
Hungary's PM says he cannot support new sanctions against Russia
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said his country cannot support the European Union's new sanctions package against Russia in its present form, including an embargo on Russian crude oil imports.
Speaking on state radio on Friday, he said supporting the sanction would be amount to an "atomic bomb" dropped on the Hungarian economy
He said Hungary was ready to negotiate if it sees a new proposal that would meet Hungarian interests.
By Michael Doyle
Ukraine says new effort to evacuate civilians from Mariupol steelworks has begun
The head of the Ukraine presidential staff has said a new attempt to evacuate civilians trapped with Ukrainian fighters in the Azovstal steelworks has started.
Andriy Yermak did not give any further details about the evacuation in Mariupol
Civilians have been trapped with fighters for several weeks.
By Michael Doyle
Germany will supply seven howitzers to Ukraine
Germany's Defence Minister says the country will provide Ukraine with seven howitzer weapons in their defence against Russia.
Reuters is reporting that Christine Lambrecht said Germany would also teach Ukrainian fighters how to use the weapons.
By Michael Doyle
UK says Russia continues assault on steel plant
Russian forces in Mariupol have continued their ground assault on the Azovstal steel plant for a second day, British military intelligence said in a tweet on Friday.
The Ministry of Defence said the attack on the plant had come at a personnel and equipment cost to Russia.
By Michael Doyle
US first lady Jill Biden flies to Europe
US first lady Jill Biden will begin her tour of Europe on Friday in Ukraine.
Dr Biden will meet with Ukraine refugees on Sunday, according to the Associated Press, who fled into Slovakia.
"I can only imagine the grief families are feeling," she said.
"I know that we might not share a language, but I hope that I can convey, in ways so much greater than words, that their resilience inspires me, that they are not forgotten, and that all Americans stand with them still."
By Michael Doyle
UN says Ukraine evacuees in desperate need of psychological help
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) says hundreds of Ukrainians evacuated from Mariupol are seeking psychological help.
ReliefWeb, an information site provided by OCHA, says 10 psychologists from Malteser Ukraine are seeing hundreds of people who have left Mariupol.
Pavlo Titko, head of Malteser Ukraine said it was difficult for the psychologists to listen to the many horror stories.
"The demand for our consultations is high. Around 200 people are queuing in order to get help from our professionals."
By Michael Doyle
UN says civilian death toll expected to be higher
The UN has officially recorded 3,280 civilian deaths since the start of the war in February.
It said the delay in reporting from places experiencing heavy fighting meant the true figure was possibly much higher.
By Michael Doyle
UN records more than 3,200 civilian deaths
The UN Human Rights Council has officially recorded 3,280 civilian deaths in the Ukraine-Russia war.
The latest figures to May 5 showed the victims were 1,183 men, 749 women, 72 girls, and 86 boys, as well as 73 children and 1,117 adults whose sex is yet unknown.
The UN says most civilian deaths have been caused by explosive weapons, including shelling.
By Michael Doyle
FBI says documents found by Fiji on superyacht implicate its Russian owner
The Federal Bureau of Investigations says Fiji authorities searching a yacht they seized on behalf of the United States have found documents implicating its suspected owner, Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, in breaking US law.
The 106-metre luxury superyacht Amadea was seized on Thursday.
Amadea travelled from Mexico for 18 days across the Pacific, entering Fijian waters on April 13, but it didn't have customs clearance.
Fiji police and FBI agents seized Amadea at a wharf on Thursday, two days after a Fiji court granted a US warrant that linked it to money laundering.
The FBI said in court documents seen by Reuters, that Fiji authorities had found documents on Amadea showing breaches of US law because Mr Kerimov was sanctioned by the United States in 2018.
"There is probable cause to believe that Kerimov and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused US dollar transactions for the operation and maintenance of the Amadea to be sent through US financial institutions, after a time which Kerimov was designated by the Treasury Department," the FBI said.
By Kate Ainsworth
In pictures: Residential destruction in Bucha
Bucha resident Vitalii Zhyvotovskyi has taken Reuters photographer Zohra Bensemra through his house, which he says Russian troops destroyed as they retreated from the Kyiv region.
Inside, it is littered with Russian ration boxes, empty bottles of alcohol and piles of rubble — a stark contrast to the home he left behind.
By Kate Ainsworth
US intelligence leads to Ukraine sinking Russia's flagship cruiser Moskva
The United States shared the location of the Russian warship Moskva with Ukrainian forces before an explosion that led to its sinking, according to an anonymous American source cited by the Associated Press news agency.
Ukraine attacked the Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, with anti-ship missiles in April.
A US official — who spoke anonymously — said the US provided "a range of intelligence" that included locations of the ship.
On Thursday, local time, the official said the US was not aware that Ukraine planned to strike the Moskva until after Ukrainian forces had conducted the operation.
That disclosure of intelligence-sharing comes after the New York Times reported the US had provided intelligence to Ukraine that led to the killing of Russian generals.
By Kate Ainsworth
Most Russian troops around Mariupol have left, Pentagon says
The Associated Press has quoted Pentagon spokesman John Kirby as saying that even as Russian air strikes continue to bombard Mariupol, Moscow's forces are still making only "plodding" and incremental progress as the main fight presses on in the eastern Donbas region.
He said he had seen no change in Russian behaviour or momentum as May 9 drew near.
Russia celebrates Victory Day on May 9, the anniversary of the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
There have been suggestions that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to tout a major victory in Ukraine when he makes his address during the traditional military parade on Red Square.
Kirby said the US still assessed that Russia was behind schedule and not making the progress in Donbas that it expected.
Ukraine says Russian troops are storming the vast Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where Ukrainian forces and civilians remain in underground bunkers.
By Kate Ainsworth
Any use of nuclear weapons would be 'unacceptable', Lukashenko says
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says any use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would be "unacceptable because it's right next to us, we are not across the ocean like the United States".
"It is also unacceptable because it might knock our terrestrial ball flying off the orbit to who knows where," he said in an interview with the Associated Press.
"Whether or not Russia is capable of that — is a question you need to ask the Russian leadership."
There has been widespread concern since Russia first invaded Ukraine on February 24 that Russia would use nuclear weapons in its invasion of Ukraine, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying the West should not underestimate the elevated risks of nuclear conflict over Ukraine late last month.
But a senior US defence official told Reuters last month that the US did believe that there was a threat of Russia using nuclear weapons, despite recent escalations in Moscow's rhetoric.
"We continue to monitor their nuclear capabilities every day the best we can and we do not assess that there is a threat of the use of nuclear weapons and no threat to NATO territory," the official said.
By Kate Ainsworth
In pictures: On the ground in Mariupol
In the southern port city of Mariupol, Russia is focusing its assault on the Azovstal steel plant where civilians and Ukrainian defenders, including members of the Azov Regiment, remain in underground bunkers.
Outside of the steel plant, Reuters photographer Alexander Ermochenko took these images of a once-thriving city that now lies in ruin with Russian troops patrolling the streets.
By Kate Ainsworth
Zelenskyy speaks with former US president George W Bush
Bush wrote on his Facebook page that he was "honoured" to speak with Zelenskyy, who he called "the Winston Churchill of our time".
"I thanked the President for his leadership, his example, and his commitment to liberty, and I saluted the courage of the Ukrainian people," Bush wrote.
"President Zelenskyy assured me that they will not waver in their fight against Putin’s barbarism and thuggery.
"Americans are inspired by their fortitude and resilience. We will continue to stand with Ukrainians as they stand up for their freedom."
By Kate Ainsworth
Russia accuses West of waging economic war
Russia's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya has criticised the United States and its Western allies for imposing tough economic sanctions over Russia's war in Ukraine.
"It is as if you were eagerly awaiting this moment to unleash repression against Russia," he said during a UN Security Council meeting.
"If we were to talk about world war, then without a doubt it is being waged at the economic level today."
But the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, accused Russia of lying to the Security Council.
"Russia alone started this war and Russia alone can end it," she said.
"Silence the guns, withdraw from Ukrainian territory and embrace diplomacy."
By Kate Ainsworth
US officials say shared intelligence helped sink Russian ship Moskva
Ukrainian authorities sunk the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet last month, saying the Moskva had been hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles that caused "very serious damage".
American officials confirmed that targeting data was provided in the hours before the Neptune missiles were launched, delivering the most significant loss to Russia's navy in decades.
Yesterday the New York Times reported that the US was providing Ukraine with intelligence that included sharing anticipated Russian troop movements.
By Kate Ainsworth
Hungary PM says EU sanctions on Russia would harm his country more
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban says the European Union's new sanctions package against Russia, including an embargo on crude oil imports, would cause more harm to Hungary than Russia,according to Hungarian news site index.hu.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Orban said approving the EU's latest sanctions package risked would be a historic failure.
Earlier in the week the European Union proposed the toughest package of sanctions yet against Moscow for its war in Ukraine, but several countries stood in the way of it, worried about the impact of cutting off Russia oil imports.
A handful of eastern EU countries are concerned that the halt would not allow them enough time to adapt, even though diplomats said Hungary and Slovakia would be given until the end of 2023.
Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that, even with the delay, Hungary could only agree to the measures if crude oil imports from Russia via pipeline were exempt from the sanctions.
Orban said approving the proposed sanctions would require large-scale investment in alternative supply infrastructure, and would drive up energy prices.
By Kate Ainsworth
Watch: Kremlin denies that Russian troops are storming the Azovstal steel plant
The Kremlin has denied Ukrainian reports that Russian forces have entered the Azovstal steel plant at the port city of Mariupol — the last Ukrainian holdout in the occupied city.
Retired Major General Mick Ryan tells ABC's The World there's "no real military sense" in what the Russians are trying to achieve.
