April 22, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine's deputy foreign minister thanked allies for their military aid to Ukraine thus far, but also emphasized the country's need for even more help to defeat Russia. Andriy Melnyk called on Ukraine’s partners to "cross all artificial red lines" and devote 1% of GDP to supply weapons to Ukraine.

“Our allies have to comprehend the scale of this war," the deputy minister said in a conversation with Ukrainian media Friday. "The support needs to be 10 times bigger right now."

Here are other headlines you should know:

On the ground: The situation in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Avdiivka and Marinka “remains very difficult," with Kyiv's troops holding off constant Russian attacks, Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi said Saturday. Russian forces have “stormed” Ukrainian positions 24 times in the area during the last day, Dmytrashkivskyi said. He claimed the assaults were “not successful” and Moscow's troops have retreated each time.

Meanwhile, in the eastern city of Bakhmut, Russia's regular forces and fighters from the Wagner private military company are also launching nonstop assaults, according to Ukrainian commanders on the front lines.

Expelled diplomats: Russia’s foreign ministry said Saturday it has decided to expel German diplomats from Russia in what it called a tit-for-tat move, after the ministry claimed German authorities decided to further expel Russian diplomatic employees in Germany. More than 20 German diplomats are being expelled, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an interview on the Zvezda TV Telegram channel Saturday.

Belgorod bomb: Around 3,000 people in the Russian city of Belgorod were evacuated Saturday after a bomb was found near the area where a Russian warplane dropped an explosive late Thursday, Russian state media TASS reported, citing local emergency services. The evacuees cleared out of 17 residential buildings as explosives specialists assessed the ammunition found Saturday, according to TASS. Officials eventually said there was no danger of explosion.

Facing criticism for recent remarks on Russia and Ukraine, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Saturday that he is simply calling for peace and restraint.

Lula was greeted by protesters during a state visit to Portugal this weekend, as he attempts to de-escalate comments that seemed to suggest both nations were at fault for the ongoing war, prompted by Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

“I never equated Russia and Ukraine. I know what an invasion is and what territorial integrity is. But now the war has already started and someone needs to talk about peace,” the Brazilian president said in a tweet Saturday. 

Lula's most recent comments: The Brazilian president added fuel to the fire of older remarks on the invasion when he criticized the US last week for “encouraging” the war in Ukraine.

Lula has since attempted to avert his previous comments by denouncing the “violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” while doubling down on his call for peace between both nations.  

“While my government condemns the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, we advocate a negotiated political solution to the conflict,” Lula said in a speech following his meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday. 

Ukraine's response: The Brazilian president's approach "puts the victim and the aggressor on the same scale," Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign minister, said Tuesday.

"Countries that help Ukraine defend itself against deadly aggression, are accused of encouraging war, does not correspond to the real state of affairs," the spokesperson wrote on Facebook.

Ukraine to welcome Brazilian presidential official: Ukraine is also set to host Brazil's chief presidential adviser as both nations continue to have diplomatic talks, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Melnyk tweeted Saturday.  

Marcio Macedo, minister of the general secretariat of the Republic of Brazil, confirmed on Twitter that the adviser, Celso Amorim, is going to Ukraine.

“At the request of President Lula, Brazil is committed to contributing to the promotion of dialogue and peace, and the end of this conflict,” Macedo said in another tweet.

CNN's Mariya Knight contributed to this post.

Ukraine needs to receive significantly more military support than allies have provided so far in order “to finish Russian aggression this year," Ukraine's Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk said.

"We are thankful to our allies for their military help. But it is not enough. Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year," Melnyk tweeted. 

He called on Ukraine’s partners to "cross all artificial red lines" and devote 1% of GDP to supply weapons to Ukraine. 

“Our allies have to comprehend the scale of this war," the deputy minister said in a conversation with Ukrainian media Friday. 

Melnyk cited US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's comment that an international coalition has so far provided Ukraine with $55 billion worth of support.

What Ukraine has received from allies: Modern battle tanks are among the key contributions provided to Ukraine by Western allies, with Ukrainian forces set to begin training on how to operate Abrams tanks next month.

The coalition's $55 billion in security assistance for Ukraine has included “more than 230 tanks and more than 1,550 armored vehicles and other equipment and munitions,” according to Austin.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Saturday it has decided to expel German diplomats from Russia in what it called a tit-for-tat move, after the ministry claimed German authorities decided to further expel Russian diplomatic employees in Germany. 

More than 20 German diplomats are being expelled, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an interview on the Zvezda TV Telegram channel Saturday.

Sources from the German Federal Foreign Office told CNN that in recent weeks they had been "in contact with the Russian side on the presence of our respective missions abroad, with the aim of reducing the Russian intelligence presence in Germany."

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that it would be significantly limiting the maximum number of employees of German diplomatic missions in Russia "as a reaction to Berlin's hostile actions." 

The German ambassador to Russia was notified of the decision on April 5, according to the Russian foreign ministry statement. 

In April 2022, Germany expelled "a significant number" of Russian officials, and Russia expelled 40 German diplomats later that month.

A photograph of an injured pregnant woman being carried from a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has won the World Press Photo of the Year award.

The photo – taken by Evgeniy Maloletka for the Associated Press on March 9, 2022 – was widely reported around the world, including by CNN, and became emblematic of Russia’s aggression against its neighbor.

The woman in the image – named by World Press Photo as Iryna Kalinina – and her baby both died, a surgeon who treated her confirmed days after the photograph was taken.

Maloletka is a war photographer, journalist and filmmaker from Berdiansk, Ukraine, according to the World Press Photo Contest.

Members of the jury said the image "captures the absurdity and horror of war" and "rises as a deeply painful historical fact."

Global jury chair Brent Lewis, a New York Times photo editor and co-founder of Diversify Photo, said:

The attack on the key southeastern Ukrainian city came after it had been besieged by Russian forces, with trapped residents forced to shelter underground, melt snow for water and scavenge for food.

CNN's Tim Lister and Olga Voitovych contributed reporting to this post.

Residents remain sheltered underground in the southeast Ukrainian city of Orikhiv, facing a constant Russian onslaught that makes it too dangerous to return to the surface.

CNN's chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh and his team narrowly escaped a missile strike while reporting in the area this week.

The crew was leaving Orikhiv after receiving a warning of incoming strikes. As they drove, a missile landed between the armored car carrying Paton Walsh and a trailing vehicle with his producer.

After a few tense moments, the two teams were able to communicate via radio and left the area safely.

Escape from Russia's onslaught isn't a practical reality for many Ukrainians, however. Paton Walsh and his team visited an underground shelter where residents had access to the only electricity and running water in town.

Fighting could only intensify near Orikhiv if Ukraine launches an expected counteroffensive this spring. It's a key territory for potentially cutting off Crimea — which Russia has claimed as annexed since 2014 — from the rest of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly vowed to take back Crimea from Russian rule.

Russia's regular forces and fighters from the Wagner private military company are launching nonstop assaults on the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian commanders on the front lines.

The situation there "remains extremely tense," Yurii Fedorenko, the commander of a company in Ukraine's 92nd Mechanized Brigade, told Ukrainian television.

Russian paratroopers and special forces have joined the assault, and they've had some tactical success, according to the commander. Russia uses onslaughts from aircraft to "literally destroy" Ukrainian positions, then moves forward to fill up the vacuum, Fedorenko said.

But, the commander continued, Kyiv's troops are conducting "active defense" and retaking some positions, "both on the outskirts of the town and in the town itself, pushing the enemy away from the communication routes and driving them out of their positions."

Some positions change hands back and forth through the course of battle.

Another officer, Lt. Roman Konon, said Russian forces are pushing ahead with unprecedented force, destroying everything in their path. Each side is suffering casualties, Konon said.

Chipping away at Russia's forces: Fedorenko endorsed the grinding, monthslong efforts to defend Bakhmut, claiming "the enemy suffers much greater losses during the assault than the Ukrainian forces."

And if Ukraine allowed Russia to achieve its objectives in Bakhmut, the commander said it would free up "an extremely large number of forces and means, which are quickly redeployed to other areas of priority and importance to the enemy."

That could include the eastern cities of Marinka or Lyman.

As long as Russia is tied up fighting in Bakhmut, Ukraine is able to "destroy this strike and assault potential of the enemy," Fedorenko said.

This is the current map of control:

Around 3,000 people in the Russian city of Belgorod were evacuated Saturday after a bomb was found near the area where a Russian warplane dropped an explosive late Thursday, Russian state media TASS reported, citing local emergency services.

The evacuees cleared out of 17 residential buildings as explosives specialists assessed the ammunition found Saturday, according to TASS. Officials eventually said there was no danger of explosion.

Belgorod’s regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel that the bomb has been removed from the area and people are gradually returning to their apartments.

The explosion on Thursday left a crater about 20 meters (65 feet) across, blowing a car onto a roof and damaging buildings, in what state media called an "accidental" or "emergency" release of air ordnance by a Russian fighter jet.

Belgorod is 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) north of the border with Ukraine. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in New York on Monday, Russian state media TASS reports, citing Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya. 

Almost all members of Lavrov’s delegation to the UN Security Council were issued visas to attend, Nebenzya told state television Russia 24, TASS reported Thursday. He said visas had not yet been issued to journalists. 

Earlier this week, Nebenzya said Lavrov is set to discuss the Black Sea grain deal with Guterres during his visit to New York.

Russia took over the presidency of the Security Council on April 1, in what Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called "the world’s worst April Fool’s joke."