April 26, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of the war in Ukraine has moved here.

An ammunition depot is on fire in a rural village in Russia’s Belgorod region, said regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on his Telegram Wednesday.

“According to preliminary information, an ammunition depot is on fire near the village of Staraya Nelidovka. No damage has been incurred by residential buildings and houses. There were no casualties among the civilians,” Gladkov said.

Staraya Nelidovka is about 10 miles north of the Ukrainian border, and about 10 miles south of the city of Belgorod. 

CNN cannot independently confirm that there were no casualties or damage to residential buildings.

A steady flow of people make their way across fields and rivers dotting southern Ukraine’s countryside. As night falls, the crowds swell. They travel on foot, by bicycle or by wheelbarrow.

They are desperate to leave behind the Russian occupation of their hometown, Kherson, and are willing to take – and risk – any route possible out of the city to the rest of the country.

Over a hundred miles away, at a central hall in Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, local authorities welcome the resettled.

A man and his son speak of their wife and mother being killed by a bomb.

Even here, in comparative safety, they did not want to be identified for fear that the Russians might target other family members they left behind.

“If they see us, they’ll shoot everyone left there,” the son told CNN. “We left on foot, over the water in the river.”

The occupied areas around Kherson – the first to be taken by advancing Russian forces in the opening days of the war – have been terrorized in the past week by the advancing second phase of Moscow’s offensive.

Ukraine has said Russia plans to hold a vote in the region – widely viewed there as a sham referendum – to try to show popular support for the creation of a new entity called the Kherson People’s Republic, which would mirror similar entities in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. (Moscow sent in troops to the self-declared republics – and began its war in Ukraine – after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized their independence.)

Multiple locals and several Ukrainian officials told CNN the vote had been scheduled for Thursday.

Read the full story here:

Related article Scores flee for their lives ahead of Russia's sham independence vote in Kherson

Mark Vande Hei, a NASA astronaut who was on the International Space Station with Russian cosmonauts when the war in Ukraine began, described his experience with CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Vande Hei returned to Earth last month with two Russian cosmonauts on a Soviet-era spacecraft after spending a record-breaking 355 days in space.

“The world is so beautiful and it’s awe-inspiring to look down at the Earth but it’s also extremely sad to recognize that there’s a lot of suffering that’s happening and personally I think it’s a very, very avoidable suffering,” Vande Hei said.

He continued, “At the same time I felt a strong sense of honor that I was able to participate in a program that, I think, helps provide a path to having the peace we so desperately need in the future because those paths always require some conversations between people who trust each other and I think that’s what the space program is providing and hopefully we will continue to provide no matter what type of international conflicts we run into.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris congratulated the astronaut for his stay in space in a phone call on April 6.

“I hope you know and feel that our nation, our planet, is so thankful to you for your years of dedicated service certainly to our country,” Harris said. “Welcome home.”

More background: The dynamic between the US and Russia changed quite drastically on Earth from when Vande Hei first launched in April 2021 to the space station. Tensions between the US and Russia turned frosty as the Russians were preparing for, and eventually launched, an invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

Ahead of Vande Hei’s return, there were brief concerns that the Russians would abandon the astronaut in space, after Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin shared a heavily edited video showing two Russian cosmonauts floating inside the space station waving goodbye to Vande Hei. NASA has repeatedly reaffirmed that it continues to work closely with Russian space agency Roscosmos.

Watch the full interview here:

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CNN’s Jasmine Wright contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia is trying to destabilize the region through military activity in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria.

“This is just one of the steps of the Russian federation. This is happening to destabilize the region and threaten Moldova,” Zelensky said when asked by a journalist during a joint press conference in Kyiv with IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi on Tuesday.

“This is showing that if Moldova supports Ukraine this is what’s going to happen,” he said.  

In recent days, Ukraine has accused Russian troops of firing missiles and conducting operations in Transnistria.

When asked about the number of Russian troops present in Transnistria, Zelensky said Ukrainian armed forces are “prepared and not afraid” to deal with a new front of the military invasion.  

“With regard to certain Russian troops that are constantly present in the temporarily occupied territory — this has been so for many, many years. We know they’re on alert, just waiting for the order,” Zelensky said.

Germany has agreed to deliver anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine, the German Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday, a move that underscores a major shift in its approach to providing military help to Ukraine.

The commitment to deliver the Gepard anti-aircraft systems was announced by defense minister Christine Lambrecht during a meeting of international defense officials at the Ramstein US Air Force base in Germany on Tuesday.

“We decided yesterday that we will support Ukraine with anti-aircraft systems … which is exactly what Ukraine needs now to secure the airspace from the ground,” Lambrecht said during the meeting at the base.

This is significant as it is the first time Germany has agreed to provide this type of heavy weaponry to Ukraine as it fights off the Russian invasion. The Gepard systems were phased out from active duty in Germany in 2010.

Germany initially resisted calls to provide weaponry to Kyiv, agreeing only to provide humanitarian help and medical equipment. That approach was in line with Germany’s decades-long policy of not supplying lethal weapons to crisis zone.

Just months before Russian President Vladimir Putin order the invasion into Ukraine, the then new German government agreed to include the restrictive arms export policy into its coalition agreement.

But facing pressure from allies and the German public, the government was forced to overhaul the rules. By late February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Germany would start delivering some weapons to Ukraine, although at that point he insisted on calling them “defensive.”

He also announced Germany would start pumping more money into its own armed forces.

First such investment was publicly confirmed last month when Germany announced it would buy 35 US-made F-35A fighter jets.

Read more here.

Despite Russia’s repeated denials they were responsible for any carnage in Bucha, Russian military vehicles and forces were seen on a Bucha street near civilian bodies, new drone video obtained exclusively by CNN shows. 

CNN has geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the videos, which were taken by a drone on March 12 and 13. CNN is not naming the individual that took the video over concerns for their safety.

A Russian military vehicle is seen sitting at an intersection in the video from March 13. CNN has identified three objects in the video — just down the street from the military vehicle — are the same bodies that were seen in the video from April 1 and satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies on March 18.

Additional drone video from March 13 shows another Russian military vehicle traveling further up the street, in the direction of the bodies.

In the March 12 video, a number of Russian soldiers are seen around a military vehicle parked outside of a house, just down the street from the bodies. It’s unclear what they are doing at the house.

CNN asked the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Russian officials — President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — have repeatedly claimed that the videos and satellite images that show bodies in Bucha are fake.

This drone video is the first piece of evidence to emerge from Bucha that shows Russian vehicles and troops operating on the street, where the bodies were found by Ukrainian forces when they retook the town on April 1.

The images that emerged from Bucha after Russian forces retreated have drawn enormous outrage from the international community.

It’s also led some leaders, including US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, to call for the atrocities that took place in Bucha war crimes.

Watch the report here:

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After nearly nine weeks of shelling by Russian forces, CNN toured the devastated northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine.

In one neighborhood that was hit repeatedly, CNN’s Clarissa Ward witnessed building after building left in destruction. “No site was spared, not even the local nursery school,” Ward reported.

“Mercifully, the school had been evacuated so no children were killed in the strikes. The mayor of Kharkiv says that 67 schools and 54 kindergartens have been hit here since the war began. And what’s so striking, when you look around, is that it’s so clearly not a military target. This is a residential neighborhood,” she said.

In another residential building in the city, that was severely damaged, Ward found a 73-year-old woman.

“So, she saying that she does have a sister who she can stay with but she also lives in an area that’s being heavily hit and she’s living in a shelter at the moment,” Ward explained after speaking with her. “It’s from all sides, she says, from there and there they can shell.”

The city still continues to be shelled.

Watch the full report here:

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Russia’s Gazprom has told Bulgaria’s state-owned gas company Bulgargaz that it will shut off gas supplies starting Wednesday, Bulgarian energy ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Bulgaria is now the second country, after Poland, to face Russia’s gas embargo starting Wednesday after they refused to pay in rubles.

The energy ministry said that the new payment procedure proposed by Russia was not compatible with the existing contract until the end of this year and posed “significant risks” to Bulgaria.

It said the Bulgarian side has “fully fulfilled its obligations and has made all payments required under this contract in a timely manner, diligently and in accordance with its provisions.”

The Bulgarian government agencies have taken steps to make alternative arrangements for the supply of natural gas and to address the situation, it said.  

“At present, no restrictive measures have been imposed on gas consumption in Bulgaria,” the ministry added. 

Bulgarian Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov will make a statement on the situation on Wednesday, according to the statement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that he does not expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

When asked during a sit-down interview with Britain’s “Talk TV” if he fears that Putin may use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine if Moscow faced defeat in its ongoing invasion, Johnson said that he does not share the same worry.

Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that nuclear deterrence is Russia’s “principled position,” but he added that “the danger is serious, it is real, it cannot be underestimated.”

Johnson said Putin had the “political space” to be able to back down and withdraw from Ukraine.  

“[Putin] could come to a point, when you look and say to the Russian people: The military technical operation that we launched in Ukraine has been accomplished. We had to go into to accomplish certain protectors to protect the rights of certain people that’s been done,” Johnson said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about Russia and nuclear weapons while criticizing recent Russian troops’ operations at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Tuesday during a joint news conference in Kyiv with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

“Today on the 36th anniversary of the disaster at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, again the world was just a step from disaster because for the Russian troops, the plant and the entire was just another combat action zone where they didn’t care for nuclear safety,” Zelensky said. 

Zelensky accused the Russian troops of operating with little regard to nuclear danger and of looting and damaging several areas of the plant, including the system control center and laboratory. 

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine was occupied by Russian forces just a few weeks ago and is now back under Ukrainian control. 

He warned that their carelessness signals the danger of Russia using nuclear weapons.  

“Given the level of the threat, we believe Russia has no right to turn nuclear energy into weapons and blackmail the world with the use of nuclear weapons,” Zelensky said. 

During the news conference, Zelensky personally thanked the staff members who stayed to maintain the plant as the Russian troops occupied. The staff was offered medals for their work. 

Zelensky and Grossi discussed the current level of nuclear threat and damage to the facilities. 

Grossi said he agreed that the IAEA would continue to work to restore the capacity and infrastructure that was damaged in recent weeks. 

“In spite of these difficulties, it’s important to look into the future, look into peace, the moment that Ukraine will regain its peace, its tranquility, and the safety that all its citizens deserve,” Grossi said.

Grossi made a working visit to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day, marking 36 years since an explosion there “spread a radioactive cloud over large parts of the Soviet Union, now the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” as the UN describes it. 

Nearly 8.4 million people in the three countries are known to have been exposed to the radiation, the UN also says. 

The IAEA chief said of the visit, “We are marking the day. We are remembering what needs to be remembered. We are paying respect and honor to those who deserve it, but we are working.”  

During the working visit, the IAEA delivered a first batch of equipment, including radiation-monitoring equipment, Grossi said. IAEA safety inspectors are working closely with their Ukrainian counterparts to monitor and compare radiation measurements at the plant and the exclusion zone and then maintain a presence “for as long as the situation requires,” Grossi added, while speaking on scene to reporters. 

When asked by one reporter how close Chernobyl had been to another disaster while under Russian occupation, Grossi said that while the situation was “completely different” than the 1986 explosion with a then working nuclear reactor, that it still “could have developed into an accident.” 

All credit for avoiding a worse fate was due to the operators, the IAEA chief said. 

“I think the first credit must go to the operators. To these people here, because they carried on their work in spite of all the difficulties. In spite of the stress, in spite of the fact that they could not be working normally,” he said

The Department of Defense has established a control center to coordinate shipments and “streamline the delivery” of military assistance to Ukraine with both US and allied forces in Stuttgart, Germany, within the US European Command area of responsibility, a senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday.

The EUCOM Control Center of Ukraine, or ECCU, is based at US European Command headquarters in Stuttgart and is run by a US two-star admiral, the official said. The center works closely with what the US military calls the international donor coordination center, or IDCC, which is run by a one-star general from the United Kingdom, the official added.

“This was set up to support this security system’s efforts,” the official said. 

The control center, along with US personnel, includes staff from 15 other supporting nations in Stuttgart, the official said. The control center will also manage the network of more than 40 partner and allied nations that met in Germany earlier Tuesday and are providing assistance to Ukraine, the official said. 

This new group of allies will meet once a month, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced earlier Tuesday. The first meeting was hosted by Austin at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly described who runs the EUCOM Control Center of Ukraine. It is run by a US two-star admiral.

American motor company Ford will be in no rush to reopen its Russian businesses, whatever happens with the conflict in Ukraine, according to Bill Ford, the company’s executive chair.

Speaking to CNN’s Richard Quest, the boss of the carmaker said that it would take the “long view” on Russia.

“There will be a new Russia one day. But it will take a little time to sort out what that means and we’ll take our time with that. It’s important that that we do get the human rights equation correct. And that, that we feel that the country is headed in the right path,” Bill Ford explained.

Ford suspended its Russian operations indefinitely on March 1. The motor company has a 50% stake in Ford Sollers, a joint venture between the American automaker and Russian company Sollers.

Ford Sollers operated three plants in Russia and employed around 4,000 people. Bill Ford said the move was the “right thing to do” even though it affected employees who weren’t part of Russian politics.

There have been close encounters between US forces and “Russian armaments,” specifically unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, during the ongoing war in Ukraine, a US defense official said during a background briefing with reporters on Tuesday. 

“There’s been a couple of occurrences of UAVs, unmanned aerial vehicles, that have really been near the border of Belarus, that are near some of our forces,” the official said. 

The official added that these instances of drones getting close to US forces did not cause the US “alarm,” but “yes that has occurred.”

“Nothing that has caused us alarm, or nothing that we wouldn’t be ready for, but yes that has occurred,” the official said.

The official could not say if the drones were Belarusian or Russian, but, “either way we consider them a threat.”

In a dramatic escalation of tensions with the West, Russian energy giant Gazprom informed Poland’s state-run gas firm PGNiG that it will “entirely suspend” gas supplies along the Yamal pipeline starting Wednesday morning, PGNiG said in a statement on Tuesday. 

“On April 26, Gazprom informed PGNiG of its intention to entirely suspend deliveries under the Yamal contract at the beginning of the contract day on April 27,” the statement read.    

The news sent US natural gas futures up about 3% Tuesday. 

Gazprom did not confirm that the supply of Russian gas to Poland had been stopped, Russian state news agency TASS reported Tuesday, citing the company’s spokesperson Sergey Kupriyanov. 

Kupriyanov however emphasized that Poland must pay for Russian gas supplies in rubles, a demand Warsaw has refused. 

Russia delivered an ultimatum last month to “unfriendly” nations to pay for their energy in rubles starting April 1 or risk being cut off from vital supplies. But the flow of gas has continued. The Kremlin said payments for gas being delivered at the time of its announcement would fall toward the end of April or the beginning of May, which is why Russia didn’t immediately shut off the flow of gas to Europe. 

Putin’s high-stakes threat has sent shockwaves through Europe, which cannot keep its economy running for long without Russian energy. Moscow sent a clear signal that it could at some point reduce natural gas flows — perhaps to deter or respond to even tougher Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. 

PGNiG said it’s prepared to obtain gas from various directions, including through gas connections on the western and southern borders and the liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG) in the northwest Polish port city of Swinoujscie. 

It also said its underground gas storage is almost 80% full. 

“The balance sheet is supplemented by domestic gas production and fuel reserves accumulated in underground gas storage facilities. Currently, the warehouse filling level is around 80% and is significantly higher than in the corresponding period in previous years,” it added.  

The Polish gas firm said that all deliveries to customers are currently being carried out in accordance with their needs, adding that the company is monitoring the situation and are prepared for various scenarios. 

Poland’s Climate Minister Anna Moskwa affirmed on Tuesday that there will be no shortage of gas in Poland despite Russia’s halt of exports.  

“Poland has the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security - we have been effectively independent of Russia for years,” she said in a tweet.  

“There will be no shortage of gas in Polish homes,” the minister wrote. 

The meeting between United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday lasted about an hour, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general, said during a news briefing. 

While part of the meeting included aides, part of the meeting was also one-on-one between Guterres and Putin, Haq said.

Haq also said that work to establish a humanitarian contact group and a specific effort with the Red Cross to assist people in Mariupol, Ukraine, will start “on the ground as soon as we can.”

“It is important to get this moving as quickly as we can, so that is what we’ll proceed to do,” Haq said.

CNN’s Liam Reilly contributed reporting to this post.

The deputy chief of Mission for the US Embassy in Ukraine and members of the embassy team traveled to Lviv Tuesday, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

Speaking at a State Department briefing, Price said the embassy team “met with interlocutors from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” 

“Today’s travel was a first step ahead of more regular travel in the immediate future,” he said, noting it was temporary for now. 

“We’re accelerating preparations to resume embassy Kyiv operations just as soon as possible,” Price continued.

He said the State Department is “constantly assessing and evaluating and reassessing the security situation with a view towards resuming those embassy operations as soon as possible again to facilitate our support to the government and people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country.”

Russia remains focused on attempts to surround Ukrainian forces in the east of the country, a Ukrainian presidential advisor said Tuesday.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia’s main efforts in the east were around the towns of Popasna, Severodonetsk and Rubizhne, with further fighting around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

“Although the enemy resorted to powerful artillery and airstrikes, our troops successfully maneuver and repel attacks,” Arestovych said.

Regional officials also announced what they said was the first successful evacuation from the village of Bilohorivka, which has seen frequent shelling in the last week.

Oleksiy Smyrnov, from the Donetsk regional administration, said 49 people, among them eight children, had been moved out of the village under Russian fire and taken by train to safety in western Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in nearby Kreminna, which was captured by Russian forces last week, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Hayday hinted at significant Russian casualties when two buildings in the city exploded on Monday.

The blasts — at the city council buildings and another building used by Russian forces – were both caused by gas explosions, Hayday said.  

“There are huge losses. The so-called people’s mayor died in the city hall building. We are still finding out what happened, there were a lot of people [inside the buildings],” he said.

The US State Department is aware of explosions that occurred Monday in Transnistria — the Russian-backed breakaway region inside Moldova — and “closely monitoring the situation,” spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday.

“We reiterate the Moldovan government’s call for calm in response to these incidents and we fully support as you have heard us say before, Moldova’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, we respect its constitutionally guaranteed neutrality,” Price said at a State Department briefing.

“We don’t know all of the details beyond regarding what transpired yesterday, but we do remain concerned about any potential attempts to escalate tensions,” he said.

“Moldova is a strong partner, we are working to make sure that they have what they need to respond to the regional consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” Price said.

Ukrainian officials are claiming that a spate of unexplained attacks in and around neighboring Moldova suggest Russia may be trying to open a new front in the two-month war.

On Monday, a rocket attack damaged a government security building in the Russian-backed breakaway region of Transnistria inside Moldova. Around 1,500 Russian troops are deployed in Transnistria, ostensibly as a peacekeeping force.

On Tuesday, a communications tower in Transnistria was damaged by unexplained explosions, leading the Moldovan president to call an emergency meeting of the country’s security council.

Those two incidents led Ukraine to accuse Russia of planned provocations in Transnistria. 

Ukraine also blamed Russia for firing cruise missiles Tuesday at a bridge across the estuary of the river Dniester. The road and rail bridge links Odesa with the far southwest corner of Ukraine bordering Moldova, and the damage essentially cuts the region off.

Maksym Marchenko, head of the Odesa region military administration, said Russia had used three missiles, one of which had struck the bridge.

“By his actions, the enemy is trying to cut off part of the Odesa region and create tension amid the events” in Transnistria, Marchenko said. 

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, alleged that “the Russian authorities at the level of the highest representatives of the state are declaring that it is necessary to occupy Moldova.”

“Today’s cruise missile strikes on our southern region may indicate Russia’s intentions to add the region of Ukrainian Bessarabia (the far south-west) to all areas of its offensive,” he added.

The Ukrainian military’s Operational Command “South” said that in the Odesa region, “collaborators and agitators of the ‘Russian world’” had been identified amid provocations and allegations that Ukraine was planning to attack Transnistria.

Read more about Transnistria and why is it important to Russia here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to United Nations and International Committee for the Red Cross involvement in the evacuation of citizens from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, according to a readout of the UN secretary-general’s Tuesday meeting with Putin in Moscow. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also “reiterated the United Nations’ position on Ukraine, and they [Guterres an Putin] discussed the proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones,” the readout from the UN secretary-general’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.  

Further conversations between UN United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Russian Defense Ministry will be had at a later date, the UN said.

The United States called out Russia’s multiple vetoes in the UN Security Council on Tuesday, saying they were “extraordinarily troubled by Russia’s pattern of abusing its veto right over the past decade.” Richard Mills, Jr., deputy US Ambassador to the UN, called Russia’s history of vetoes a “long and shameful list.”

The United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (also referred to as the “P5”) and all five countries have veto power. 

“The veto was not intended as a carte-blanche for impunity for the P5. It was not meant to confer automatic protection from accountability in perpetuity,” Mills said Tuesday. “Russia has diminished the role and reputation of the UN Security Council … and has tarnished the UN as a whole.” 

According to Mills, Russia has vetoed: 

Gennady Kuzmin, Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, spoke earlier during the UN General Assembly session on Tuesday, stating that they “categorically reject” the approach that the newly-adopted veto resolution takes.  

“The right of the veto for the permanent members of the Security Council is a cornerstone of the United Nations architecture. Without it, the Security Council would become a rubber-stamping body, rubber-stamping questionable decisions imposed by the nominal majority, Kuzmin said. “The decision which was made today, whilst it does have a very pretty packaging is without any doubt an attempt to create an instrument of exerting pressure on the permanent members of the Security Council. And this is an approach that we categorically reject.” 

Serhii Dvornyk, counsellor to the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN, said Tuesday that P5 members have extraordinary power granted to them and that Russia has abused that power. 

“Let me remind that almost every draft resolution in the Security Council on the Russian aggression against Ukraine was blocked. It happened due to the abuse of veto by the country which occupies the Soviet seat in the Security Council, the Russian Federation,” Dvornyk said. “Every veto with respect to crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide is a manifestation of utmost disregard for those who have been killed and injured, as well as those who could be killed – killed in particular, because Russia considers their veto as a greenlight for such crimes,” he continued.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia and Ukraine had managed to achieve a “serious breakthrough” during talks in Istanbul, Turkey, but the situation changed “dramatically” following the allegations against Russia for crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

“In Istanbul, we managed to achieve a serious breakthrough, because our Ukrainian colleagues did not associate the requirements of security, international security of Ukraine, with such a concept as internationally accepted borders of Ukraine … But, unfortunately, after reaching agreements and after our clearly demonstrated intentions to create conditions for favorable conditions for the continuation of negotiations, we encountered a provocation in the village of Bucha, to which the Russian army has nothing to do,” Putin said, speaking alongside United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Moscow. 

“And the position of our negotiators from Ukraine on a further settlement, it changed dramatically after that. They departed from their previous intentions to put aside the issues of security guarantees and the territories of Crimea, Sevastopol and the republics of Donbass. They just gave up on it,” he continued.

Guterres said he proposed to create a three-party humanitarian group between the UN, Russia, and Ukraine to coordinate cooperation on evacuation corridors in Ukraine.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that possible future talks in Turkey depend on Putin as he reiterated his willingness to participate in talks. 

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Zelenesky, said Thursday that the war in Ukraine “can end in direct talks” between Zelensky and Putin, but he cautioned that he was waiting to assess how Russia’s military offensive in the east of the country progresses in the coming days.

Remember: Bucha became a byword for war crimes, after images and accounts of summary executions, brutality and indiscriminate shelling emerged in the wake of Russia’s hasty retreat, as the Kremlin shifted its focus away from the Ukrainian capital to the country’s east.

Moscow claimed — without evidence — that the atrocities in Bucha were staged, calling it “fake,” and part of a “planned media campaign.” But witnesses who spoke to CNN said the carnage in the town began weeks ago. There have also been reports of looting, disappearances, and evidence of the indiscriminate killings of civilians since the war began.

Read the full report from Bucha here.

Ukrainian officials say Russia is running into trouble over plans to hold a referendum in occupied Kherson in Ukraine’s south as early as Wednesday.

Ukraine has said Russia plans to hold a vote in the region to try to win popular support for the creation of a new entity called the Kherson People’s Republic, which would mirror similar entities in Ukraine’s far east, around Donetsk and Luhansk, which were created eight years ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the independence of those two entities in February was among the Russian President’s key announcements in the days leading up to the launch of his attack on Ukraine two months ago.

But on Tuesday morning, Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor Vadym Denysenko said that pro-Russian officials were struggling to find enough people to facilitate a popular vote in Kherson.

“They cannot even hold a mock referendum, as they did in 2014 in Luhansk and Donetsk, because they realize they do not have a critical mass of people [to support them], even just to get a picture for TV,” Denysenko said, adding, “Besides, there are no people who will be ready to work at the polling stations.”

Two officials in the region also told CNN that pro-Russian forces were finding it difficult to arrange a planned referendum.

Yurii Sobolevskyi, a deputy head of the Kherson regional council, told CNN that when votes took place in Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014, and in Crimea’s independence referendum the same year, many local officials had supported the pro-Russian initiative. 

“This greatly simplified the task of holding a referendum and absorbing the territories [so they came under Russia’s influence]. It’s not like that here,” he said.

Another local official said a lack of support among regional councilors was holding up the preparation of lists of eligible voters and ballot printing but admitted a vote could still take place at some point.

“They will theoretically be able to hold it, but it will take time to prepare,” Hlan Serhii, a Kherson city council deputy, said.

In another development in Kherson on Tuesday, the Ukrainian administrator for the region said that Russian forces had installed a new local government.

Hennadii Lahuta, the Kherson regional administrator, made the announcement in a video posted to his social media accounts. The installation of the new government took place less than 24 hours after Russian forces took control of the Kherson City Council building, removing the elected government and replacing its security with Russian military troops.

According to Lahuta, a meeting was held at the Kherson City Council building on Tuesday, “to install the so-called ‘Mayor of the Kherson Regional Administration,’ Volodymyr Saldo and the ‘Head of the Kherson City Administration,’ Oleksandr Kobets.” 

Saldo, a former mayor of Kherson, has been accused in the past of cooperating with the Russian KGB but has never been charged. Under martial law, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council banned his party, the Bloc of Volodymyr Saldo, for its alleged ties to Russia.

CNN reached out to Saldo for comment but did not received a response. CNN was unable to reach Kobets for comment. 

The new Russian-installed government in Kherson mirrors similar action in Melitopol, another Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine. In that city, armed men arrested the elected mayor as Russian troops installed their own mayor, who quickly began making pro-Russian moves, such as mandating the broadcasting of Russian television channels.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday during a news conference that for the war in Ukraine to come to an end Russian President Vladimir Putin “needs to make a decision to end this conflict.” 

“I think the first step is to end this conflict. And I think that what needs to happen to cause the conflict to come to an end is Mr. Putin He’s the person that started it,” Austin said.

Austin called Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine “unjustified.” He added that it will be Putin’s decision “to de-escalate and then go back to the negotiating table” 

“And we really all would like to see that happen,” Austin said. 

Austin thanked the countries that have stepped up to help Ukraine noting, “We don’t have any time to waste.”

Austin said Germany just announced today that it will send Ukraine 50 anti-aircraft armored vehicles. This announcement came one day after the British government announced that it would provide Ukraine with additional anti-aircraft capabilities as well, Austin said.

Here are more of the latest headlines on the Russia-Ukraine war:

Asked by a reporter if the war in Ukraine was becoming a proxy war between the United States and Russia, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin denied that it was and said it is “clearly Ukraine’s fight.” 

“Ukraine’s neighbors and allies and partners are stepping up to make sure they have what they need in order to be successful,” Austin said in a network pool interview. “Ukrainians are there fighting to protect their sovereignty.”

Austin’s comments come after previous remarks that one of the goals of the US was to “weaken” Russia to the point that they would not be able to threaten their allies as they did to Ukraine.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that for the war in Ukraine to come to an end Russian President Vladimir Putin “needs to make a decision to end this conflict.” 

Austin called Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine “unjustified.” He added that it will be Putin’s decision “to de-escalate and then go back to the negotiating table” 

“And we really all would like to see that happen,” Austin said. 

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin opened his news conference Tuesday by thanking the countries that have stepped up to help Ukraine noting, “We don’t have any time to waste.”

“The work that we’ve done together in record time has made a huge difference on the battlefield. President (Volodymyr) Zelensky made that clear when we met Sunday in Kyiv. And countries all around the world have been stepping up to meet Ukraine’s urgent needs,” Austin said. 

Austin said Germany just announced today that it will send Ukraine 50 anti-aircraft armored vehicles. This announcement came one day after the British government announced that it would provide Ukraine with additional anti-aircraft capabilities as well, Austin said.

“And so that’s important We’re seeing more every day. And I applaud all the countries that have risen and are rising to meet this demand. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine,” Austin said. “So we’ve got to move at the And I know that all the leaders leave today more resolved than ever to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and atrocities. And I know that we’re all determined to do even more to better coordinate our efforts.” 

The allies will meet monthly to discuss the Ukraine war strategy, Austin said.

US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said it was “completely irresponsible” for any senior leader of a nuclear power to start “rattling a nuclear saber” when asked about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calling the danger of a nuclear war “serious and real.”

“Any time a senior leader of a nation state starts rattling a nuclear saber, then everyone takes it seriously,” said Milley in a live interview with CNN. 

Lavrov said Monday that nuclear deterrence is Russia’s “principled position,” but he added “the danger is serious, it is real, it cannot be underestimated.”

Milley said the US military is monitoring the nuclear threat from Russia along with “friends and allies.”

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the international community, including the US and Ukraine, are focused on not letting the situation “spin out of control.”

Any “possibility of use of nuclear weapons is very dangerous and unhelpful. Nobody wants to see a nuclear war. Nobody can win that,” he said.

Top US Gen. Mark Milley told CNN Tuesday that he believes “what’s at stake” in this war “is much greater than Ukraine.”

“What’s at stake is the security, for the security of Europe since the end of World War II. And indeed, you can easily make the case that what’s at stake is the global international security order that was put in place in 1945,” Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN’s Jim Sciutto. “That international order has lasted 78 years. It’s prevented great war. And underlining that entire concept is the idea that large nations will not conduct military aggression against smaller nations, and that is exactly what’s happened here, by Russia against a smaller nation.”

Milley continued by saying that if Russia gets away with its aggression in Ukraine “cost-free,” then “so goes the so-called international order.”

“If that happens, then we’re heading into an era of seriously increased instability,” Milley added.

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US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley told CNN that the policy of governments supporting Ukraine is to see the embattled country free and independent and a “weakened Russia.”

He added that the unity among western countries is key.

“The unity of the West and the unity of NATO, and indeed, the unity of the globe has probably never been stronger than it is in the face of this unprovoked aggression. That’s where we’re heading.”

US diplomats returned to Ukraine today for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The diplomats crossed into the country from Poland and traveled to the western city of Lviv for a day trip, according to the source. 

The visit comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the US would send diplomats into the country starting this week when he visited the Ukrainian capital over the weekend. 

The department plans to reassess the security situation for the diplomats’ day trips into Lviv constantly, the source said. 

The department is also reexamining the security situation in Ukraine more broadly after Russia bombed five railway stations in central and western Ukraine on Monday, according to the source and another source familiar with the discussions. The attacks that rocked the railway stations just hours after Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin completed their visit to Kyiv.

“The Kremlin’s brutal tactics and utter indifference to human life are appalling. This is the latest example of attacks that have killed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure in the Russian government’s brutal war against Ukraine,” said a State Department spokesperson when asked about the recent bombings and the plan to send US diplomats back into the country. 

“As the secretary said, US diplomats will return to Ukraine this week. We are constantly reassessing and evaluating the security situation with a view toward resuming Embassy Kyiv operations as soon possible to facilitate our support to the government and people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country,” the spokesperson added. 

While US diplomats going into Lviv for day trips to not travel on trains, the sources said, the trains are a critical piece of the Ukrainian fight because they are one way that new military equipment is getting into Ukraine. Russia warned the US against arming Ukraine earlier this month in a diplomatic cable.

Wladimir Klitschko, a member of the key military defense in Ukraine and a former world boxing champion whose brother is the mayor of Kyiv, told CNN’s New Day it is not safe for anyone to be in Ukraine right now, including diplomats.

“If you’re on Ukrainian soil, it is not safe for anybody. Eventually, and we’ll look forward to have diplomats back in their embassies,” Klitschko said Tuesday. 

Work has begun in Kyiv on dismantling a monument to “Russian-Ukrainian friendship.”

The large monument close to the Dnieper River was erected in 1982 to commemorate the reunification of Ukraine and Russia.

Vilati Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, said: “The dismantling has started today and we plan to finish it tonight. We are removing the bronze sculpture of two workers, installed in the center of the Ukrainian capital in 1982.”

Russia now demonstrated “a barbaric desire to destroy our state and peaceful Ukrainians,” Klitschko said.

A road and railway bridge across the mouth of the river Dniester in southwest Ukraine has been heavily damaged in an explosion.

The bridge, which is near the city of Odesa, appears to have been damaged by a missile strike.

“Circumstances and information about the victims are being clarified,” authorities said.

Images from the scene show extensive damage to the road portion of the bridge. 

Japan will provide additional relief supplies such as food and medicine to Ukraine, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said following a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday. 

Japan will also increase its diplomatic efforts to support Ukraine together with other G7 nations, Kishida said, adding that Zelensky thanked Japan for its support.

The two discussed the situation in Ukraine, further sanctions against Russia and assistance toward Ukraine.

This is the fourth time the two leaders have spoken by phone this year, said Kishida.

Russian troops have taken control of the council in the occupied southern Ukrainian city of Kherson as they prepare to hold a poll on the future of the wider region, asking people to vote on its “independence.” Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described the plan as a “sham referendum.”

It’s a move straight out of Russia’s war playbook. 

A similar referendum was held in Crimea in 2014, providing a pretext for Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula just days later.

The UN General Assembly called the Crimean referendum invalid. Western countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, have also called the annexation and the referendum illegal.

Separately, Russian-backed separatists held their own votes in 2014, after declaring two areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region as independent.

The decision by the Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognize these two entities – self described as the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics – as independent was seen as the opening salvo in Russia’s war on Ukraine in late February. 

Another Russian-supported breakaway region, South Ossetia in Georgia, in March also announced plans to hold referendum on joining Russia. Georgia said such move was “unacceptable.”

Following the same script, Russia is now calling for the Kherson region to become “the Kherson People’s Republic.”

Kherson is a strategically important city on an inlet of the Black Sea with a population of nearly 300,000. Its citizens have continued defying Russia by staging protests and marches even after occupying forces took over the city center. 

President Zelensky has hailed his people’s refusal to give their backing to Russia’s forces. 

“People [in occupied towns] have showed with their protest their attitude towards the occupiers; [they have] showed that Ukraine will definitely win,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address Monday. 

Addressing the referendum planned by the Russians, Zelensky said:

Russian forces have occupied the Kherson region since the opening weeks of the war, but, according to Kherson regional deputy Yuri Sobolevsky, they have until Monday “allowed” the city hall to function in a “reduced format” under Ukrainian control. 

That is no longer the case. Kherson mayor Igor Kolykhaev said on his Facebook page that “armed men entered the building of the Kherson City Council, took the keys and replaced our guards with their own.” 

Ukrainian officials say that heavy fighting has continued Tuesday in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk regional military administration, said Russian forces had launched missile attacks against the city of Avdiivka, close to the frontlines. “The Central City Hospital, a school, and high-rise buildings were affected,” he said. 

Kyrylenko said another Russian attempt to attack the nearby town of Mariinka had been repelled. The Russians had also left the town of Krasnohorivka without electricity after damaging a transformer.

“Today the shelling continues almost along the entire front line. At least two civilians are currently known to have died,” Kyrylenko said.

In neighboring Luhansk, three civilians died in the town of Popasna when a building collapsed amid heavy shelling, according to Serhiy Hayday, the head of the Luhansk region military administration.

“The situation in Popasna is extremely difficult. Street fights in the city continue. The enemy remotely fires heavy weapons. Aviation is constantly bombing the residential area,” Hayday said.

Popasna has been on the frontlines for weeks and has sustained extensive damage. 

Hayday said 95 residents of the Luhansk region had already been evacuated Tuesday, about half of them from Lysychansk, a town that has been heavily damaged in weeks of shelling.

Norway will allocate 400 million Norwegian Krone ($44 million) to a British-led initiative to purchase weapons and military equipment for Ukraine, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said Tuesday.

Speaking to the Norwegian parliament, Støre said the move made it possible to support Ukraine with arms that Norway’s military did not have or could not give up.

Donating arms to a party to war was a “new experience” for Norway, the prime minister added.

Some background: Norwegian Minister of Defense Bjørn Arild Gram last week announced that Norway had donated a Mistral air defense system to Ukraine.

Norway had previously donated a total of 4,000 anti-tank missiles and several types of protective equipment as well as other military equipment, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that there is a “considerable” risk of armed conflict spreading beyond Ukraine, and accused NATO of engaging in a proxy war. 

Lavrov was asked on Russian state television on Monday about the prospects of world war three, and his response marks a significant escalation in rhetoric, reports Reuters.

“The risks now are considerable,” Lavrov said, according to the ministry’s transcript of the interview, reports Reuters.

“The danger is serious, real. And we must not underestimate it,” Lavrov said. “NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.”

The US is hosting Ukraine-focused defense talks at its Ramstein air base in Germany, where German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht announced that Berlin will deliver Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine.

And on Monday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin explicitly said that the US wants to see Russia’s military capabilities weakened.

“We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine,” Austin said at a news conference after traveling to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

“So it has already lost a lot of military capability. And a lot of its troops, quite frankly,” added Austin. “And we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability.”

The UN is investigating 300 unlawful killings in Ukraine, the head of its monitoring mission in the country Matilda Bogner told CNN Tuesday.

Speaking on CNN Newsroom, Bogner relayed the scale of civilian atrocities the mission has documented throughout the war so far, including cases of sexual violence and arbitrary detentions.  

So far the mission has documented up to 5,000 civilian casualties, Bogner said, noting the actual number will be “thousands” higher. Currently the UN is investigating 150 cases of enforced disappearances.

“Again, the number of cases are higher than that, these are just the cases that we have sufficient information about to already look into,” she said. 

“We are hearing in some of the areas occupied by the Russian Federation, that they are targeting people who have pro Ukrainian views. For example, local officials, activists, human rights defenders, sometimes journalists who they consider have pro Ukrainian views are being detained. They often disappear. Some have been released, which is good, but others have since been found dead. 

“We are also trying to document cases of sexual violence. Unfortunately it’s very difficult to get full information. Victims usually are not willing to speak in areas that are unsafe, when they haven’t had services provided to them. 

“So it is very important that these services are provided, that people are able to have access, and move to safer areas. And it’s only when that happens that we will start to get the full picture of what’s really going on in the country.”

China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that “no one wants to see a third world war break out,” following Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comments that the risk of nuclear war was a real danger. 

In an interview aired on Russian television on Monday, Lavrov was asked about the risks of a third world war in comparison to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. Lavrov said nuclear deterrence is Russia’s “principled position,” but the danger is “serious and cannot be underestimated.”

“I wouldn’t want these risks to be artificially inflated now,” Lavrov said, “but the danger is serious, it is real, it cannot be underestimated.”

“No one wants to see a third world war break out,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters in a briefing Tuesday. 

Wang reiterated China’s hope for parties to “keep calm and exercise restraint,” and to “realize peace as soon as possible and avoid inflicting a heavier price on Europe and the world.” 

“We should reflect on how the vortex of geopolitical conflicts has risen again in Europe, more than 30 years after the end of the Cold War,” Wang said. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday the situation around Ukraine “has become a catalyst” for “a great number of problems,” and therefore Russia responded “expeditiously” to the request by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for talks. 

“We definitely appreciate your desire to have another round of talks at this hard time,” Lavrov told Guterres at the beginning of a meeting in Moscow aimed to discuss the situation in Ukraine and its global impact.  

Lavrov said the meeting between Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin later Tuesday “emphasizes the significance that we attach to our contacts with the United Nations.”

Guterres told Lavrov, “we are extremely interested” in finding ways to create conditions for effective dialogue, for a ceasefire “as soon as possible” and “conditions for a peaceful solution.”

“I know today we are facing a complex situation in Ukraine, different interpretations about what is happening in Ukraine, but that does not limit the possibility to have a very serious dialogue on how best we can work to minimize the suffering of people,” Guterres said. 

“These are also very deep interests that I have in the present moment – to do everything possible to end the war as soon as possible, and to do everything possible to minimize the suffering of the people and to address the impacts of the vulnerable populations” in other parts of the world as well that have been impacted by the war. 

“It is very important to support all countries around the world in relation to food, in relation to energy, in relation to finance,” Guterres said. 

Diplomatic efforts continue, with Germany agreeing to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine, and a third mass grave has been found near Mariupol.

Here are the latest developments:

A third mass grave has been found near Mariupol, the mayor of the besieged southeastern city told Ukrainian television Tuesday.

In addition to mass graves uncovered in the villages of Mangush and Vynohradne, “now we see there is another one,” said Vadym Boichenko.

New satellite imagery has shown a mass grave at the village of Staryi Krym, according to the Telegram channel of the city authorities.

The images showed excavated trenches on the territory of the Old Crimean cemetery, the city council said on Telegram.

They appeared on March 24, after the village was occupied by the Russians, and were about 60 to 70 meters long, the council said.

By April 7, according to new imagery, part of the trenches had been covered, the council said, and the burial area had grown. 

“New trenches were recorded on April 24. The length of the mass grave has increased to more than 200 meters,” it said.

Boichenko accused Russian forces of involving the local population in mass burials in exchange for food.

“They [the locals] told us that you have to work ‘hours’ to have food and water. Now there is not enough humanitarian aid in Mariupol so people are forced to do it,” he said on Telegram. 

CNN is unable to confirm the city’s account of the mass graves. The images, from Planet Labs, were first reported by Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL) on Monday.

CNN has reviewed satellite imagery purportedly showing mass graves at Vynohradne, but it is unclear beyond the disturbance of the ground what may have transpired there.

Last week, Ukrainian officials identified the location of mass graves at Manhush near Mariupol after the publication of satellite images collected by and analyzed by Maxar Technologies. 

Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor Mariupol, posted about the mass grave at Manhush on Telegram on Thursday.

“As a result of a long search and identification of places of mass burial of dead Mariupol residents, we established the fact of arrangement and mass burial of the dead Mariupol residents in the village of Manhush,” he wrote.

Andriushchenko – who is not in Mariupol but has served as a clearinghouse for information from inside the besieged city – said Russian forces had dug several mass graves, each measuring about 30 meters (around 100 feet), in Manhush, a town around 12 miles (20 kilometers) to the west of Mariupol. 

On Tuesday Boichenko repeated that some 20,000 residents of Mariupol had died since the beginning of the invasion.

“The situation in Mariupol remains extremely difficult,” he said. “Enemy artillery shells our fortress Azovstal,” the steel plant where Ukrainian troops and civilians are holed up.

“There are women and children inside. Ceasefire is needed to begin the evacuation. Unfortunately, there is no ceasefire,” Boichenko said. “People are running out of food, there is almost no drinking water. This is a humanitarian catastrophe.”

A projected 8.3 million refugees are expected to flee Ukraine, according to the latest assessment by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Around 5.2 million refugees had left Ukraine as of Monday, the latest UNHCR data shows.

The UNHCR and partner organizations are seeking $1.85 billion to support Ukrainian refugees in neighboring countries, UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said Tuesday.

Speaking in Geneva at the launch of an updated regional refugee response plan to support Ukrainian refugees, Mantoo said the plan “aims to ensure timely and life-saving humanitarian assistance to refugees fleeing Ukraine and third-country nationals, of whom a sizeable number would need international protection.”

The plan will also focus on “solutions through the promotion of social and economic opportunities,” Mantoo added.

In addition to those fleeing the country, more than 7.7 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine, according to the latest International Organization for Migration report, bringing the total number of those forced to flee their homes to 12.9 million.

There were also almost 13 million people estimated to be stranded in affected areas or unable to leave due to security risks, Mantoo said.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that Russia’s invasion and atrocities in Ukraine are “indefensible” as Russia has bombed hospitals and left children “traumatized.”

“Russia’s invasion is indefensible and so are Russian atrocities,” Austin said, speaking from Ramstein US Air Base in Germany, where the US is hosting Ukraine-focused defense talks.

“We all start today from a position of moral clarity – Russia is waging a war of choice to indulge the ambitions of one man.
“Ukraine is fighting a war of necessity to defend its democracy, its sovereignty and its citizens.”

Austin explained that the “stakes” of the war reach “beyond Ukraine and even beyond Europe,” before calling Russia’s invasion “baseless, reckless and lawless.”

“It is an affront to the rules-based international order, it is a challenge to free people everywhere. As we see this morning, nations of good will from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s imperial aggression. And that’s the way it should be.”

Austin was speaking as part of his visit to Europe alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Austin said his recent trip to Kyiv “reinforced” his “admiration” for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

“Ukraine clearly believes that it can win. And so does everyone here,” he said. “Ukraine needs our help to win today and they will still need our help when the war is over.”

He added: “My Ukrainian friends, we know the burden that you all carry. And we know, and you should know, that all of us have your back. And that’s why we are here today – to strengthen the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy.

“We are all here because of Ukraine’s courage, because of the innocent civilians that have been killed, and because of the suffering that your people still endure. Your country has been ravaged, your hospitals have been bombed, your citizens have been executed, your children have been traumatized.” 

Some background: Austin and Blinken traveled to Kyiv over the weekend, where they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pledge US support in the war and announce that US diplomats would be returning to Ukraine.

On Monday, speaking at a news conference at an undisclosed location in Poland near the Ukrainian border, the top US officials insisted that Russia was failing in its Ukraine incursion, with Austin explicitly saying that the US wants to see Russia’s military capabilities weakened.

Germany will deliver Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine, the German Ministry of Defence announced on Tuesday.

The move was announced by German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht at Ramstein US Airforce base, the ministry tweeted.

Two guided missiles hit the city of Zaporizhzhia in central Ukraine Tuesday, according to the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration.

The missiles hit one of the city’s businesses, killing one person and injuring another, the administration said.

“Infrastructure facilities of the enterprise were damaged and destroyed,” it said, adding that a third missile exploded in the air.

Earlier Tuesday, the Ukrainian state nuclear energy company, Enerhatom, claimed that two cruise missiles had flown over the nuclear power plant near the city of Zaporizhzhia.

“The flight of missiles at low altitudes directly above the ZNPP site, where 7 nuclear facilities with a huge amount of nuclear material are located, poses huge risks,” said Petro Kotin, head of Enerhoatom. “After all, missiles can hit one or more nuclear facilities, and this threatens a nuclear and radiation catastrophe around the world.”

The Zaporizhzhia plant was captured by the Russians on March 4 and is still under their control.

Just before the start of Alexandra Rudkovskaya’s shift on Saturday, her mom gave her a big, long hug. The kind mothers give their kids when they don’t know when – or even if – they’ll see them again.

Rudkovskaya, 24, works as a paramedic in Kharkiv – a choice she says leaves her mother “worried to the point of hysteria.”

“She says you need to leave this town, you need to go to some place safe. Why do you need to do this? I have only one child, stop doing this,” Rudkovskaya told CNN.

Just hours after their hug goodbye, the stuff of her mother’s nightmares came true when Rudkovskaya and her partner Vladimir Venzel put their lives on the line to reach an injured patient. CNN was there to witness their bravery.

Read the full story here:

Related article As Russian rockets rain down on Kharkiv, its paramedics are risking their lives to save others

Two radio towers in Moldova’s unrecognized breakaway territory of Transnistria were damaged by explosions in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Transnistrian Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement.

“In the early morning of April 26, two explosions occurred in the village of Mayak, Grigoriopol district: the first at 6:40 and the second at 7:05,” the statement said.

“Law enforcers and Transnistrian emergency services were immediately dispatched to the scene…As of 9 am (local) the two most powerful [radio] antennas are known to be out of order,” it continued, adding that a bomb squad from the Ministry of Defense was undertaking an “investigation.”

No radio tower staff or local residents were hurt, according to the ministry.

The site where the explosions occurred is known as the Transnistrian radio and television center, which was built in the 1960s and is one of 14 Soviet-era radio transmitting centers, the statement said.

No information was given about the cause of the explosions.

On Monday, a series of explosions were heard near the Ministry of State Security building in Transnistria’s capital Tiraspol, Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reported.

Ukraine described those blasts as a planned provocation by the Russian security services. 

Some background: Transnistria is a breakaway republic in eastern Moldova that borders Ukraine. It has a population of nearly 500,000 and is internationally recognized as part of Moldova.

Russia has maintained a military presence in Transnistria since the early 1990s.

Last week, a top Russian general said Russia intended to establish “full control” over southern Ukraine during the second phase of its invasion, adding that doing so would give its forces access to Transnistria. 

The self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria — which has its own constitution, military, currency and flag but has never been recognized by the international community — could be pulled into Russia’s war in Ukraine.

A top Russian general said last week that the military is aiming for “full control” over the eastern Donbas region and southern Ukraine – and to gain access to Transnistria, the breakaway territory in the neighboring country of Moldova.

TASS quoted the acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District Maj. Gen. Rustam Minnekaev as saying the goal was to create a land corridor between Donbas and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

On Monday, there were explosions in Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, which Ukraine’s Defense Ministry called a “planned provocation” by the Russian secret services.

Here’s what you need to know about Transnistria, and why it’s important to Russia.

A separatist statelet: Transnistria is a narrow sliver of land about 1,350 square miles in size, sandwiched between Ukraine and the rest of Moldova – only a little larger than Rhode Island, the smallest state in the US.

It is home to about half a million people, most of whom are Russian-speaking.

Some history: Transnistria declared independence from the former Soviet republic of Moldova following a two-year war (1990-1992) that erupted during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Russians stepped in to back Transnistria but never recognized it as an independent state. The conflict between the Moldovan government and the separatists ended in a ceasefire in 1992 – but about 1,500 Russian troops have remained in Transnistria since then.

Russia eyeing Transnistria: The statement by Maj. Gen. Minnekaev, laying out Russia’s strategy for the “second phase” of the war, prompted immediate alarm from Moldovan authorities, who summoned the Russian ambassador.

The statements about Transnistria 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,” said the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration.

It added that during the meeting with the Russian ambassador, Moldovan officials reiterated that the country was a “neutral state and this principle must be respected by all international actors, including the Russian Federation.”

Role in the war: Some military analysts suspect Russia plans to lean on Transnistria for logistical support – and to take advantage of its strategic position, to establish a land corridor along the Black Sea to capture the port city of Odesa.

Watch more here:

Russian forces have stepped up their offensive in both the south and east of the country – but resistance has been able to push back in some locations, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

Russian forces are focusing particularly on the Kramatorsk and Sloviansk towns in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and on Kryvyi Rih in the southern Kherson region, he said.

The Russians have held Kherson since the early days of the invasion, and have been trying to push northward from there.  

Russia is also continuing to build up troops in the northeast, intended to partially blockade the heavily hit city of Kharkiv, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Tuesday.

It added that Russian forces had tried unsuccessfully to launch attacks elsewhere in the Donetsk region.  

“Over the past 24 hours, six enemy attacks have been repulsed in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, four tanks, five artillery systems, thirteen units of armored vehicles, fifteen units of motor vehicles, two tankers and one anti-aircraft gun have been destroyed,” the General Staff said.

Russian troops are also conducting an offensive to the south, in the region of Zaporizhzhia, the General Staff said. Ukrainian forces have struck back, destroying a Russian ammunition depot, the military leadership said, claiming that some 70 Russian soldiers had been killed and that the Russians also suffered losses in two settlements south of Kryvyi Rih. 

CNN cannot independently verify these figures.

In the same region, the Southern Command of the Ukrainian Infantry said Russian forces had again tried to advance toward the city of Mykolaiv with increased shelling and artillery — but two attacks “were repelled by our units, including the destruction of tanks and an APC (military vehicle),” it said. “The rest of the forces retreated under our fire to the previous positions.”

Heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, with Russian attacks now also targeting parts of the country’s central and western regions. Meanwhile, diplomacy efforts are ongoing with the United Nations chief on his way to visit leaders of both countries.

Here are the latest developments:

A nighttime curfew has gone into effect in Kyiv from Monday to Friday this week because of Russia’s “provocative actions,” Oleksandr Pavliuk, the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, said in a Telegram post Monday. 

The curfew will last from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time.

“We remind you that during the curfew it is forbidden to be on the street and in other public places, to move by transport or on foot,” Pavliuk said. 

Those involved in the work of critical infrastructure who have a special permit and ID are exempt, he said.

“During martial law, it is important to adhere to the requirements and decisions that are implemented on the ground. Such measures help protect the population from the provocative actions of the enemy,” Pavliuk added.

Weeks after first occupying the major Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian troops have taken control of the Kherson City Council, according to two members of the city government.

Kherson Mayor Igor Kolykhaev said on his Facebook that on Monday night, “armed men entered the building of the Kherson City Council, took the keys and replaced our guards with their own.” 

Addressing rumors that the Ukrainian flag that flew over city council had also been taken down, Kolykhaev noted that the flag was still flying over the building when he left.

Yuri Sobolevsky, Kherson regional deputy, described the incident on his Facebook page as a “seizure,” saying it was “unfortunately, quite expected.”  

“Kherson’s city hall was ‘allowed’ to function in a reduced format for a while, but that time seems to be over, too,” Sobolevsky continued

Two days ahead of Russia’s plans to stage a referendum in the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed his people’s refusal to give their backing to Russia’s occupying forces.

“People [in occupied towns] have showed with their protest their attitude toward the occupiers; [they have] showed that Ukraine will definitely win,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address on Monday.

“Russia wants to stage a sham ‘referendum’ somewhere on our land? Even if they try, it will be as shameful as everything else that was “created” in Moscow to support the occupation of Ukraine,” he added.

Russian occupation: Russia has announced it will hold a vote in the southern region of Kherson — which It has occupied since the opening weeks of the war — on Wednesday, in which people will be asked to approve the “independence” of a new entity called “the Kherson People’s Republic.”

Meanwhile, as the war enters its third month, Zelensky said Russia had fired more than 1,100 missiles at Ukrainian targets, in addition to “countless bombs and artillery.”

The Ukrainian president said 931 settlements in Ukraine had been liberated by Ukrainian forces after temporary occupation by Russian forces. 

In addition, since the start of hostilities some 9,781 Ukrainians had been presented with state awards for their defense of their country, and 142 people had been given a ‘Hero of Ukraine’ award.

“The lessons of history are well known. If you are going to build a millennial Reich, you lose. If you are going to destroy the neighbours — you lose. If you want to restore the old empire, you lose. And if you go against the Ukrainians — you lose,” Zelensky said.

EU membership: And he struck an upbeat note about Ukraine’s advance towards possible membership of the European Union, which has become a key goal for the Ukrainian leadership.

Joining the EU: And he struck an upbeat note about Ukraine’s advance towards possible membership of the European Union, which has become a key goal for the Ukrainian leadership.

“We are accelerating our movement to the European Union as much as possible. We have already passed a historic moment, an important stage — with the receipt and answering a special questionnaire, which was provided to each country before they acquired the status of a candidate for EU membership.”

There is not much left of Novotoshkivka, a small village about 16 miles — or 26 kilometers — southeast of Severodonetsk, new drone video published on Monday by the Russian-backed separatist government Luhansk People’s Republic shows.

CNN has geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the video.

Novotoshkivka was a very dense but small village in the Luhansk oblast, in eastern Ukraine; it only stretches about half a mile long, and a third of a mile wide. 

Now, fighting in the new war between Russian and Ukrainian forces have left it completely destroyed. Russian backed separatists claim the Ukrainians blew it up when they retreated from their positions in the village.

Serhiy Hayday, the Luhansk regional administrator, confirmed Ukrainian forces there had retreated but claimed on his Facebook page that the Russians had decimated the village through repeated airstrikes.

In remarks made on Ukrainian television Monday, Hayday said that the Russians “keep razing everything to the ground.”

“Unfortunately, there are almost no houses left in Novotoshkivka. Our [troops] retreated a little, but not much, because there was no longer anything to hold on to, there was nowhere to keep the defense,” he said.

Novotoshkivka had been the site of intense fighting over the last week. At the time, the Ukrainian government and Luhansk regional administration said Russian forces there had been repelled after repeatedly trying to take over the village.

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