April 22, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov met with and presented awards to soldiers in Moschun, a village north of Kyiv that experienced heavy destruction and played a significant role in driving back Russian forces. 

In a Facebook post early Friday, Reznikov said, “I met with the soldiers in Kyiv Region in the completely destroyed Moschun. Here the occupiers used all possible weapons, including missiles and aircrafts.”

He said the village was on a list of settlements that Russian forces had to take in order to reach Kyiv.

“Thanks to our soldiers, thanks to the courageous residents of the village, they were defeated,” Reznikov said, “Assassins and looters could not hold Moschun, could not move forward. Having suffered heavy losses, the occupiers were forced to flee to Belarus.”

Some context: Moschun was vital to the Ukrainians repelling the Russian advance towards Kyiv. Ukrainian forces there, and nearby in Irpin and Bucha, are largely responsible for stalling the Russians, who were trying to advance towards Kyiv across the Irpin River.

That’s why Bucha, Irpin and Moschun were subjected to weeks of military strikes and firefights. As a result, much of the destruction in the Kyiv region is in these three locations.

In addition to the countless strikes in Moschun, Russian forces also tried to take the village through a ground assault.

Drone video taken on Friday and obtained by CNN shows a number of homes destroyed in Moschun.

The World Health Organization has reported at least 162 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion, the agency tweeted on Thursday. 

“Attacks on health care violate international law and endanger lives. Health workers, hospitals, and ambulances should NEVER be targets,” the WHO wrote. 

The attacks occurred between February 24 and April 16, causing 52 injuries and 73 deaths, according to the WHO. They targeted health facilities, transport, personnel, patients, supplies and warehouses.

Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, said the WHO has been working to ensure medical and health supplies reach cities and towns across Ukraine despite the attacks. 

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called the situation in Mariupol the “biggest humanitarian catastrophe” since Russia’s invasion – and perhaps the worst catastrophe of the century, as the southeastern port city faces constant bombardment from Russian forces.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington on Friday, Shmyhal said thousands of people had died in Mariupol, adding: “We will see the terrible atrocities when it will be liberated from Russians.”

He said Russian troops are “absolutely destroying everything,” including shelters where civilians are staying.

An estimated 100,000 people remain trapped in Mariupol since it was surrounded by Russian forces on March 1, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian officials claim that more than 20,000 people in the city have died during the assault.

CNN cannot independently identify these figures, as a firm death toll following weeks of heavy bombardment is not available.

The last holdout of resistance: On Friday, Shmyhal said civilians including women and children are hiding at the Azovstal steel plant, the final bastion of Ukrainian defenders inside the city. He said the Russian army is still surrounding the area, and Ukraine is speaking with partners to negotiate an evacuation corridor.

He also called on ambassadors from all countries, including the United States, to return to their embassies in Kyiv.

Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration has summoned Russia’s ambassador to Moldova, after Russia announced Friday that its military is aiming to control southern Ukraine and access Moldova.

In a statement, the Moldovan ministry said it “took note of the statements of the representative of Russia’s Ministry of Defense” and “expressed deep concern over the statements made by the Russian official.”

“Full control”: Earlier on Friday, Russian state media said the Russian military is aiming to establish “full control” over southern Ukraine in the second phase of its invasion of Ukraine.

State news agency TASS quoted the acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, Maj. Gen. Rustam Minnekaev, as saying the aim was to create a land corridor between Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and Crimea. He added that control over Ukraine’s south would give Russian forces access to Transnistria, a separatist statelet in Moldova, where a contingent of Russian forces has been stationed since the early 1990s. 

“Since the beginning of the second phase of the special operation, which began literally two days ago, one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over Donbas and southern Ukraine, this will provide a land corridor to Crimea,” Minnekaev said according to TASS.

Moldovan response: Moldova’s Foreign Ministry said the statements made by the Russian general were “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.”

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

If you’re just catching up on the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine, here’s what you need to know:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Ukraine next week where he is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, according to a UN spokesperson.

Guterres will also meet with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as well as UN agency staff members to discuss the scaling up of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

Earlier today, the UN said Guterres “will be received by President Vladimir Putin” on Tuesday after having a working meeting and lunch with the foreign minister of Russia.

A UN spokesperson said Wednesday that Guterres was requesting separate audiences with Putin in Moscow and Zelensky in Ukraine to discuss the urgent need to bring about peace.

CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine is looking at weapons, ammunition, sanctions against Russia, financing for Ukraine and “European perspectives” rather than “Soviet” ones to win the war against Russia, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

Speaking alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department Friday in Washington, DC, Shmyhal thanked the United States for its support.

Ahead of his Blinken meeting, he noted that he had met with US President Joe Biden and finance leaders from across the world while in Washington and that he’s “sure that after this visit during the next day, days, weeks and months, Ukraine will win and will have absolutely perfect recovery plan.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said earlier on Friday that it’s a “realistic possibility” that Russian President Vladimir Putin win the war in Ukraine, calling the situation “unpredictable” at the moment.

Shmyhal said that Ukraine strongly wants to join Europe, “and because of this, many of our young guys and girls pay their lives in this war for this Ukrainian perspectives, European perspective and civilized perspectives.”

Blinken, who spoke ahead of the prime minister, noted that this is the first visit by a Ukrainian senior official since the war began. However, he did not answer a question about the US Embassy in Ukraine. CNN has reported there are not active conversations about reopening the embassy in Ukraine. It has relocated to Poland.

US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan also met with Shmyhal on Friday afternoon to discuss economic and humanitarian assistance, according to National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson. 

“Mr. Sullivan conveyed the United States’ unwavering commitment to supporting the government and people of Ukraine. The two discussed the security, economic, and humanitarian assistance the United States is providing, including the new support announced by President Biden yesterday, and ongoing efforts with international partners to impose further costs on Russia for its unprovoked aggression,” Watson said in a written statement. 

Biden announced Thursday that the US will send an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine as Russia’s war enters what he called a “critical window,” but warned congressional action is necessary for further shipments as the war grinds on.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins contributed reporting to this post. 

When Russian troops invaded Ukraine and began closing in on its capital, Kyiv, Andrii Dereko begged his 22-year-old stepdaughter Karina Yershova to leave the suburb where she lived.

But Yershova insisted she wanted to remain in Bucha, telling him: “Don’t talk nonsense, everything will be fine — there will be no war,” he said.

With her tattoos and long brown hair, Yershova stood out in a crowd, her stepfather said, adding that despite living with rheumatoid arthritis, she had a fiercely independent spirit: “She herself decided how to live.”

Yershova worked at a sushi restaurant in Bucha, and hoped to earn her university degree in the future, Dereko said: “She wanted to develop herself.”

As Russian soldiers surrounded Bucha in early March, Yershova hid in an apartment with two other friends. On one of the last occasions Dereko and his wife, Olena, heard from Yershova, she told them she had left the apartment to get food from a nearby supermarket.

“We did not think that Russians would reach such a point that they would shoot civilians,” he said. “We all hoped that at least they would not touch women and children – but the opposite happened.”

When weeks went by without a word from Yershova, the family became desperate for news. Her mother left a message on Facebook begging anyone who knew what had happened to her to get in touch.

She was told by friends that images of a dead woman with similar tattoos to Yershova’s — which included a rose on her forearm — had been posted on a Telegram group set up by a detective in Bucha who was trying to identify hundreds of bodies found in the town after Russian troops withdrew from the area two weeks ago.

Dereko says the images, seen by CNN, show his stepdaughter’s mutilated body. Police told the family she had been killed by Russian soldiers.

It looked like she was tortured or put up a fight, he said. “They mutilated her. They shot her in the leg, and then gave her a tourniquet to stop her bleeding. And then they shot her in the temple.”

Dereko also believes Yershova was sexually abused by Russian troops. “The [police] investigator hinted” that she had been raped, he said.

CNN has not been able to independently verify this claim. Officers who oversaw the case declined to comment to CNN due to the ongoing investigation. CNN has reached out to Kyiv prosecutors for comment.

The Dereko family’s agonizing wait for answers reflects the rising anxiety amid reports of wartime rape in the country.

Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have been sexually abusing women, children and men since the invasion began, using rape and other sexual offenses as weapons of war.

Human rights groups and Ukrainian psychologists who CNN spoke to say they have been working around the clock to deal with a growing number of sexual abuse cases allegedly involving Russian soldiers.

Read the full story:

Related article Russian troops use rape as 'an instrument of war' in Ukraine, rights groups allege

One crew member died and 27 are missing after Russia’s guided-missile cruiser, the Moskva, sank last week in the Black Sea, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Friday, according to Russian state media TASS.

It added that the remaining 396 crew members were evacuated from the Moskva cruiser to nearby Black Sea fleet ships and sent to Sevastopol, a city in Crimea. The state media outlet said that the crew member who died, Ivan Leonidovich Vakhrushev, saved “hundreds” of his fellow servicemen. 

The Russian government, as of Tuesday, had not previously acknowledged any casualties.

Ukraine and Russia have provided conflicting accounts of what happened that day.

Ukrainians said the Moskva sunk after being struck by Ukrainian missiles, but Russia denies the claim, insisting that the reason for the sinking was a fire. But the US on April 15 confirmed Ukraine’s account, with a senior defense official saying that the US believes that two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Russian warship.

“And now we’ll have to look into the matter as to how long this ‘gone missing’ in the open sea can continue,” said Dmitry Shkrebets, the father of a conscript aboard the ship, in a post on the Russian social network Vkontakte in reaction to Friday’s announcement.

Earlier, Shkrebets posted to the network seeing information on the sailors missing after the ship sank, and claimed his son, Yegor Shkrebets, had been aboard the ship and served as a ship’s cook.   

Shkrebets said in his earlier post, “It was reported that the entire crew had been evacuated. It’s a lie! A blatant and cynical lie!”

The ship sank in the Black Sea on April 14, and CNN reported that it was the biggest wartime loss of a naval ship in 40 years.

The state media outlet quoted the Russian Defense Ministry, saying it is providing all necessary support and aid to the relatives and close ones of the dead and the missing in action.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the UK for planning to reopen its embassy in Kyiv, in his nightly address posted to social media on Friday. This would be the 21st state to resume its diplomatic mission in the Ukrainian capital, he added.

Earlier on Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the British Embassy in Ukraine will reopen in Kyiv next week and said that the UK and its allies will “not watch passively as Putin carries on this onslaught.” 

Zelensky also reacted to an announcement made by a Russian general earlier on Friday regarding Moscow’s aim to create a land corridor between Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and Crimea. The general said that control over Ukraine’s south would give Russian forces access to Transnistria, a separatist statelet in Moldova, where a contingent of Russian forces has been stationed since the early 1990s, according to Russian state media TASS.

“Allegedly there, in Moldova, the rights of Russian speakers are violated. Although, to be honest, the territory in which Russia should take care of the rights of Russian speakers is Russia itself — where there is no freedom of speech, no freedom of choice. Where there is simply no right to dissent. Where poverty thrives and where human life is worthless,” Zelensky said regarding the announcement. 

He went on to say that this “only proves” that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “was intended only as a beginning, then they want to capture other countries.” 

The Ukrainian president also thanked Ukraine’s allies who have been supplying weapons. 

“I am grateful to all our partners who finally heard us, who provide us with exactly what we asked for,” he said. “Because we know for sure that with these weapons, we will be able to save the lives of thousands of people. And we will be able to show the occupiers that the day when they will be forced to leave Ukraine is approaching.” 

Zelensky said normal life is returning to areas that have been freed from Russian control and that 184 settlements have been de-mined, humanitarian operations are taking place in more than 500 liberated settlements, and medical and educational services along with financial institutions are also returning to many settlements.

Transportation infrastructure is being restored at a “fairly fast pace” with 96 settlements regaining transportation connections on Friday, 183 settlements now with functioning gas stations and 90 settlements with restored electricity, he added. 

“The return of Ukraine to cities and communities means the return of life in the full sense of these words,” Zelensky said, adding, “I believe that such a return will take place in the south of our country and in the east of Ukraine. In all areas where degradation, destruction and death have been brought under the Russian flag.” 

Austria’s finance minister told CNN that his country supports all sanctions on Russia except a gas embargo.

“Once a sanction hits yourself more than the one targeted by the sanction, I think there’s not much use,” Magnus Brunner said, adding that Austria’s industry is so dependent on Russian gas that they have “no choice.”

There was not much sense in a sanction that harmed Austria’s economy more than Russia’s, he stressed.

More context: The European Union imported nearly 100 billion euros ($110 billion) worth of Russian energy last year. Russia supplies about 40% of the bloc’s imports of natural gas, and about 27% and 46% of its imported oil and coal respectively.

In March, EU leaders pledged to reduce consumption of Russian gas by 66% before the end of this year, and to break the bloc’s dependence on Russian energy by 2027.

Russian oil has already been banned by the United States and United Kingdom.

CNN’s Anna Cooban contributed reporting to this post.

European companies may be able to purchase Russian gas in rubles without violating the European Union’s sanctions against Moscow, according to new advice issued by the European Commission on Friday. 

The advice issued states how a process involving the Russian Central Bank would be a breach of sanctions and how continued payment in Euros/Dollars would be possible.

In a document issued to the member states and published online Thursday, the Commission states it “appears possible” that Moscow’s decree demanding energy payments be made in Russian currency “does not preclude a payment process which is in line with the EU restrictive measures.” 

However, the commission notes the procedure is not yet clear. 

A Russian decree issued in late March demands companies hold accounts in Russia’s state-owned Gazprombank, which would convert payments for gas into rubles, in order to fulfill contracts, instead of trading directly with state gas giant Gazprom. The decree only applies to existing contracts.

“EU companies can ask their Russian counterparts to fulfill their contractual obligations in the same manner as before the adoption of the Decree, i.e., by depositing the due amount in Euros or Dollars,” the EU’s guidance states.

Gazprombank has been sanctioned by the UK and the US, but not the EU.

However, the Russian Central Bank, which is sanctioned by the EU, could be involved in Gazprombank’s currency conversion, the commission notes. 

“Agreed contracts must be respected,” a spokesperson from the EU Commission told CNN Friday, adding that “97% of the relevant contracts explicitly stipulate payment in euros or dollars. Companies with such contracts should not accede to Russian demands.”

“We have carefully analyzed the new decree, and we are in contact with Member State authorities and with energy companies that would be affected. The EU will continue to respond in a united manner to this latest attempt by Russia to circumvent our sanctions,” the spokesperson continued.

A number of homes have been destroyed in Moschun, a small village to the north of Kyiv and near the Hostomel Air Base, new drone video taken on Friday and obtained by CNN shows.

CNN has geolocated the video and verified its authenticity. They were shot by travel company owner Ihor Zakharenko, who told CNN he’s since become a war journalist

The village of Moschun was vital to the Ukrainians repelling the Russian advance towards Kyiv. Ukrainian forces there, and nearby in Irpin and Bucha, are largely responsible for stalling the Russians, who were trying to advance towards Kyiv across the Irpin River.

That’s why Bucha, Irpin and Moschun were subjected to intense barrages of military strikes, and were the site of an intense, weeks long firefight. As a result, much of the destruction in the Kyiv region are in these three locations.

In addition to the countless military strikes in Moschun, which sits on the eastern bank of the Irpin River, Russian forces also tried to take the village through a ground assault.

CNN has previously reported that Russian forces from the village of Ozera, on the western bank of the Irpin River, utilized one of their pontoon bridges to cross the Irpin and advance towards Moschun.

However, a Maxar Technologies satellite image shows that Ukrainian forces successfully thwarted that ground assault, blowing up the bridge crossing the Irpin River, and the vehicles that had crossed it.

The Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the alleged shelling of the town of Sloviansk by the Russian army with cluster munitions, it said on Telegram on Friday.

“A pre-trial investigation has established that on 22nd of April 2022, Russian armed forces carried out another shelling of the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk region. As a result of actions of the occupiers, a secondary school building and several residential buildings were damaged,” the statement said.

According to the preliminary data, Russian troops used “Tochka-U,” a missile system with a cluster warhead, the statement added.

Use of cluster munitions — which scatter submunitions over a wide area — is banned by many countries. Russia and Ukraine are not signatories to an international convention barring their use. 

Fighting continued in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Tavriya, according to a statement from the Armed Forces of Ukraine published on Facebook on Friday.

Here are details provided in the statement about how fighting is unfolding on the ground: 

New York City will allocate more than $2 million in funding to help currently residing and newly arrived Ukrainians to “get access to immigration legal assistance, translation services, social services, and other resources,” according to a news release from Mayor Eric Adams’ office.

“The funds will go towards expanding personnel and increasing access to the robust resources that are available for all currently residing and new arrived Ukrainians. New York city will also offer an expanded suite of resources in the coming weeks,” the release says.

New York City is home to the largest Ukrainian population in the United States, Adams said at a news conference Friday.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Friday announced a total of $8 million in aid for the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv during a video call with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

The donation includes $3 million to the Kyiv government and an additional $5 million to six local hospitals, according to the statement. This is the fourth time that Taiwan has sent its donation to the war-torn country.

During the video call, Wu said that Russia’s invasion into Ukraine not only caused great harm to the Ukrainian people, but also threatened international orders and the democratic community. He added that Taiwan and Ukraine are partners who share the democratic ideology and are at the forefront of thwarting the expansion of totalitarianism.

Klitschko thanked Wu for the donation from the Taiwanese government and the people, saying that “peace can only begin when the last Russian soldier leaves Ukraine.” He also urged the international community to condemn and sanction Russia to the fullest extent.

Volunteers in bright blue vests stand patiently on platform 3 at Lviv’s train station. As they wait on this wet and gloomy Friday, a few family members join them as a train slowly rolls in. It finally comes to a halt, the doors open and all step forward to start helping passengers off, some searching for familiar faces of loved ones. 

Many on this designated evacuation train from Zaporizhzhia look around wearily as they lug their belongings onto the platform. It’s been a long and dangerous journey. They departed the southeastern city on Thursday, traveling overnight before arriving in Lviv on Friday afternoon.

Among the travelers are a handful of refugees who in recent weeks have managed to escape from their homes in the besieged port city of Mariupol. They are the lucky ones. 

Located in the country’s southeast, Mariupol has been the target of a relentless assault from Russian forces for weeks, with Ukrainian officials estimating as many as 20,000 people have died as a result of the constant bombardment. 

Attempts to evacuate civilians have been beset by delays and failed attempts in recent days — just 79 people were successfully pulled out on Thursday, according to the region’s governor. It’s a drop in the bucket given officials are estimating the number of residents still trapped in the city is around 100,000. 

Polina Kazantseva and her daughter Iryna Chelakhova were two of the handful arriving in Lviv on Friday.

“I feel emptiness. It will be difficult to rebuild the city. They continue bombing it,” Kazantseva told CNN. “Ninety buses were meant to evacuate people from Mariupol. On the first day, only seven were allowed to leave. On the second day, shelling continued; how to evacuate people? It’s very frightening.”

She began to cry as she thinks of home, continuing: “I want to believe that I will return there. But I think we’ll need many years to restore the city after what they’ve done. I am not going to live that long.”

Iryna interjects, saying: “They (Russians) will burn in hell — everyone who was involved” before her mother asks, “what have we done wrong to them?”

“They are not human beings,” she added. 

Nearby, Katya Yatsun carefully cradles her sleeping child in her arms while her partner retrieves their luggage. Her young family had lived in Mariupol for two years before they fled. 

“It’s a pity this happened to the city. My kid was born there. We were forced to leave; it’s impossible to live there,” she said. “My mother stayed there. Their house survived … They can’t leave because men are not allowed to. And mom doesn’t want to leave without her husband. They are there now.”

She continued, “We were thinking about our survival. I don’t know how to tell my kid about such terrifying events.”

A short time later, a second train arrives from Zaporizhzhia – this one a regular passenger train – filled with significantly more people, but none seem to be from Mariupol. 

As it glides into the station, some of its windows are broken, jagged shards of glass protruding out after it was damaged in shelling as it departed the city yesterday, according to Ukrainian officials.  

The train captain, Serhii Antokhov, told CNN that operations are becoming increasingly difficult and denounced the needlessly violent tactics being deployed by Russia’s military. 

“They are wicked fascists; what can I say? They are afraid of us, so they act like that,” he said. 

CNN’s Jonny Hallam contributed reporting to this post.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is expecting to hold phone calls with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in the next 48 hours with the hope of meeting them both in Istanbul to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“The result is positive; it’s not exactly as we wanted, but it will be better. We’re not without hope,” Erdogan said from Istanbul on Friday following a question about the ongoing Ukraine-Russia peace talks. “I hope that they accept our invitation, and we can bring them together in Istanbul.”

Turkey has a unique profile and position. Besides being a NATO member, the country also has maritime borders with both Ukraine and Russia. Plus, Turkey is Russia’s largest trade partner in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The country has competed and cooperated with Russia through conflict zones in Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh in recent years.

US President Joe Biden’s administration is not engaged in active preparations to re-open the US embassy in Kyiv, following the UK’s announcement that it will resume its diplomatic mission in the capital city soon, according to three sources familiar with the ongoing conversations. 

US State Department officials remain concerned about the possibility of a Russian strike that could accidentally hit the structure or US personnel, the sources said. The officials are less wary of specific targeting of the US mission, but so long as the errant missile threat remains, they are not going to move back into Kyiv. 

But the department is actively assessing the situation on the ground. 

“We are constantly reassessing and evaluating the security situation because the safety and security of our employees is our top priority,” a State Department spokesperson said Friday.  

For many State Department officials, the memories of Benghazi – when a US ambassador was killed in an attack on the US diplomatic compound – are a constant reminder of the need to be overly cautious, two of the sources said. 

The State Department ended operations at the US embassy in Kyiv over a month ago. The spokesperson said they looked forward to re-opening the embassy when able.

“We don’t have specifics on timing, but our team is actively planning and we very much look forward to resuming embassy operations in Ukraine to facilitate our support to the government and people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country,” the spokesperson said. 

Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB), a subsidiary of Russia’s Alfa Bank, was declared bankrupt on Friday, according to a statement by the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), citing a court order.

According to the statement, the Amsterdam Central Court ordered the bankruptcy of ATB on Friday, leading the DNB to activate a deposit guarantee scheme for account holders. 

The US Treasury announced on April 6 that it would be imposing “full blocking sanctions” on Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest private bank. As part of those sanctions, six subsidiaries, including ATB, were blocked for “being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Alfa-Bank.”

Eligible account holders at ATB are covered by the Dutch deposit guarantee scheme up to a maximum of 10,000 euros per person, and it has 23,000 private account holders, the DNB said. The full amount guaranteed by the scheme totals around 700 million euros.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “will be received by President Vladimir Putin” on Tuesday, April 26 after having a working meeting and lunch with the foreign minister of Russia, the UN said.

“The Secretary-General will visit Moscow, Russian Federation, where, on 26 April, he will have a working meeting and lunch with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and will be received by President Vladimir Putin,” according to a UN statement.

On Wednesday, a UN spokesperson said Guterres was requesting separate audiences with Putin in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine to discuss the urgent need to bring about peace.

Guterres would like “to discuss urgent steps to bring about peace in Ukraine and the future of multilateralism based on the Charter of the United Nations and international law,” according to a statement from UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

Investigations into allegations of civilian deaths in Kyiv, Bucha and elsewhere continue as more evidence emerges.

Meanwhile, civilians remain trapped in Ukrainian cities like Mariupol and Luhansk, with no new evacuation corridors established Friday. Mariupol’s mayor told CNN in an interview that “one clear day of cease fire” is needed to evacuate civilians sheltering in the Azovstal iron and steel plant in the besieged city.

Here are the latest developments on Russia’s war in Ukraine:

The European Union’s top diplomat, High Representative Josep Borrell, called for evacuation corridors in Mariupol to be created “immediately with necessary ceasefire assurances, from Azovstal and other areas of the city to other parts of Ukraine” in a written statement on Friday.

“Free and safe access for those delivering humanitarian assistance must be ensured, in line with basic human rights principles and international humanitarian law,” he urged.

Borrell commended Ukraine’s “efforts to finding a diplomatic solution for the evacuation of civilians” but said the EU regrets “that Russia is not reciprocating.”

In the statement, Borrell also highlighted the urgency of the situation, saying:

“For weeks now, the world has borne witness to a cruel, illegal onslaught in Mariupol by Russia leading to wide-scale destruction of the city, including atrocities against civilians, under a twisted pretext of ‘liberating’ the city.” 

“Thousands of its inhabitants have been deported to Russia or forcibly displaced to the non-government-controlled areas of Ukraine,” he said.

Borrell added that over 100,000 civilians remain in Mariupol, including as many as 1,000 who have taken refuge at the Azovstal steel plant and are defended by Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) – swimming’s governing body – announced on Thursday that it had suspended two-time Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov for nine months for attending a rally hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in March. 

“The FINA Bureau met today and acknowledged the decision of the FINA Disciplinary Panel to suspend Evgeny Rylov (RUS) from all competitions and activities organized or sanctioned by FINA, including any International Competition on the FINA World Aquatic Calendar, for a period of nine months, following Mr. Rylov’s attendance and conduct at an event held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 8 March 2022. Mr. Rylov’s suspension took effect on 20 April 2022,” according to a statement. 

Rylov, a gold medalist in the 100 meter and 200 meter at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, earlier pulled out of the June 18 to July 3 world championship in support of banned Russian athletes. 

The statement also confirmed that Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials will not be invited to any FINA competitions for the remainder of 2022. 

CNN has reached out to Rylov as well as Russian and Belarusian swimming federations for comment. 

At least 20 people were injured in Mykolaiv region in the past two days in attacks by Russian troops, the head of Mykolaiv regional council, Hanna Zamazeeva, said in a Telegram post on Friday.

“Fortunately, there are no children among the victims,” she added. 

Zamazeeva said the victims were taken to regional hospitals.

The Netherlands is “firmly committed” to ending the import of Russian oil and gas by the end of the year, Dutch Minister for Climate and Energy Policy Rob Jetten said Friday.

The Dutch government will subsidize energy companies to fill its Bergermeer gas storage facility to 70% capacity by the end of the year, spokesperson for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Pieter ten Bruggencate told CNN Friday.

Subsidies were necessary as an incentive to import gas at current price levels, ten Bruggencate said, adding that the Netherlands would make an estimated 623,000,000 euros (about $672,000,000) available.

The state-owned energy firm Energie Beheer Nederland would top up the remaining capacity should the subsidy program not prove sufficient, ten Bruggencate added.

Russian troops opened fired at an evacuation bus with 25 people onboard from the city of Popasna, the head of the Luhansk regional military administration Serhiy Haidai said in a Telegram statement on Friday.

“This evacuation was special and extremely dangerous. 22 passengers were seated. There were a 25-year-old boy, who was injured in the back and leg, and a paralyzed elderly woman in a stretcher on the floor,” Haidai said.

He added that a mother with a baby were also rescued from a bomb shelter. 

According to Haidai, no one was injured and the passengers are now safe. 

France is sending French-made CAESAR self-propelled howitzers — long-range weapons — to Ukraine by the end of the month, the Elysée Palace confirmed Friday. 

In an interview with French media outlet Ouest-France on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the country was “delivering substantial equipment, from MILAN to CAESAR and several types of weapons.”

“I think we have to continue on this path. Always with a red line, which is not to enter into co-belligerence,” the French president added.

About 40 Ukrainian military service members will arrive in France to get trained on the military equipment, according to the Elysée. 

MILAN anti-tank weapons systems have already been delivered, the Elysée said. 

The CAESAR is a truck-mounted artillery system with a self-propelled gun developed by Nexter Systems.

According to the company, CAESAR units have been deployed by the French army since 2009 in various countries, including “Afghanistan, Lebanon, Mali and the Sahel, Iraq, and East Asia.”

“France continues to support Ukraine militarily,” the French defense ministry said Friday. “The President of the Republic has decided to deliver several CAESAR artillery guns and thousands of shells. We stand with the Ukrainian people.”

The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, said he “strongly urged” for immediate humanitarian access and safe passage from Mariupol and other besieged cities in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. 

Michel “firmly reiterated the EU’s position: support for Ukraine and her sovereignty, condemnation and sanctions for Russia’s aggression,” he said Friday in a tweet on his verified account.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that Putin had “a lengthy telephone conversation” with Michel. 

“The development of the situation in Ukraine was discussed in detail. Charles Michel briefed Vladmir Putin on his contact with the Ukrainian leadership during his recent trip to Kyiv,” according to a statement from the Kremlin. 

Putin “outlined his principled assessments in connection with a special military operation to protect the republics of Donbass” and spoke about “measures taken on an ongoing basis to protect civilian population, the daily opening of humanitarian corridors and ceasefire declaration for the safe evacuation of civilians from the combat zone,” the Kremlin said. 

“It was noted that after the liberation of Mariupol, for humanitarian reasons, an order was given to cancel the storming of the industrial zone of the Azovstal plant. At the same time, all servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, militants of the nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries who lay down their arms are guaranteed life, dignified treatment in accordance with international law and the provision of qualified medical care. But the Kyiv regime does not allow them this opportunity,” the Kremlin said. 

“Attention was drawn to the irresponsible statements of EU representatives about the need to resolve the situation in Ukraine by military means, as well as ignoring the numerous war crimes committed by the Ukrainian security forces,” the Kremlin said. “It was noted that Brussels could influence the Kiev authorities in order to force them to stop the massive shelling of Donbas settlements and other gross violations of international humanitarian law.”

Some context: World leaders have accused Russia of carrying out war crimes for weeks. There have been mass graves and murdered civilians found in Bucha and outside of Mariupol. The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor called Ukraine a “crime scene,” following the ICC formally opening an investigation into the situation in Ukraine on March 2. And just today, London’s Metropolitan Police said it has received around 50 referrals of alleged war crimes in Ukraine, as it collates evidence to assist the ICC with its ongoing investigation. 

Responding to a call by Michel for direct contact between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Putin “reaffirmed the well-known position on this matter, noting that such a possibility depends, in particular, on concrete results in the ongoing negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives, during which the Ukrainian side is showing inconsistency and is not ready to seek mutually acceptable solutions.”

The Kremlin also reiterated unfounded claims that the leadership of “most” EU countries “indulge” in Russophobia, “which manifests itself, for example, in the cultural, humanitarian and sports fields.”

One person has died and six were wounded as a result of “intensified” shelling in Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv, according to the city’s Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych.

“In recent days, shelling has intensified. Just half an hour ago, we were fired upon again. They shoot all sorts: mostly cluster munitions, which are aimed at killing people,” Sienkevych said Friday.

Speaking on national television, Sienkevych urged residents to stay indoors during the curfew and hide between two walls to try to protect themselves.

“Yesterday, three people were injured; one unfortunately died,” he said. “Yesterday, people came out at curfew. It is necessary to understand that the curfew is not for walks. And today three more people were injured.”

Mykolaiv remains without a central water supply after a missile damaged the main pipeline early last week. The city has organized water distribution with trucks as well as additional well drilling in busy areas, Sienkevych added.

Russian forces have stepped up attacks in the regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson, as the Ukrainian armed forces called the assault in the country’s southern region more “aggressive and bold” on Sunday.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine
, said Friday that Moscow “has announced its plan for the second phase of the war. They think they can capture Donbas and the south of Ukraine, counting on the economic pressure of our state.”

The acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District said Friday that Russia had expanded its military goals to control southern Ukraine. 

Yermak added, “We have our own scenarios for the defense of Ukraine and I’d like to remind that many of the Kremlin’s plans have already been destroyed by our army and people.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that Russia has a “realistic possibility” of winning the war in Ukraine, calling the situation there “unpredictable” at the moment.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Johnson said Russian President Vladimir Putin has a “huge army,” but added:

“He has a very difficult political position because he’s made a catastrophic blunder. The only option he now has really is to try to continue to use his appalling, grinding approach led by artillery, trying to grind the Ukrainians down.
He’s very close to securing a land bridge in Mariupol now. The situation is, I’m afraid, unpredictable at this stage. We just have to be realistic about that.”

Johnson said Britain is now looking to send “backfill” equipment to countries such as Poland, which may send “heavier weaponry” to support Ukraine’s resistance.

“We’re looking at sending tanks to Poland to help as they send some of their T-72s to Ukraine,” Johnson announced, adding that Britain is looking at other options such as “anti-ship defenses.”

“We’ve got to look at what more we can do militarily, we’ve got to keep intensifying the economic sanctions … and we’ve also got to set out a vision for the future of Ukraine in the security architecture of Europe,” he said.

Johnson also said that the British Embassy in Ukraine will reopen in Kyiv “very shortly.”

NATO must avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia that could lead to a third world war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel, when he was asked to comment on why Germany has not delivered heavy weapons to Ukraine.

”There is no rule book for this situation that states at what point we are considered a party to the war in Ukraine,” Scholz said in the interview, which was published Friday, when asked why he thought delivering tanks to Ukraine could lead to nuclear war.

“That’s why it is all the more important that we consider each step very carefully and coordinate closely with one another,” Scholz said, adding that avoiding “an escalation towards NATO is a top priority for me.”

“That’s why I don’t focus on polls or let myself be irritated by shrill calls. The consequences of an error would be dramatic,” he added.

Scholz is facing growing criticism from within Germany and abroad for his government’s alleged reluctance to deliver heavy weapons, such as tanks and howitzers, to Ukraine as Russia’s invasion has entered a new and potentially decisive phase. 

In the interview, Scholz warned he does not ”think it is justified for Germany and NATO to become warring parties in Ukraine.” 

Scholz also said he does not believe an embargo on Russian gas would end the war in Ukraine. 

“I absolutely do not see how a gas embargo would end the war. If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin were open to economic arguments, he would never have begun this crazy war,” he said.
“Secondly, you act as if this was about money. But it’s about avoiding a dramatic economic crisis and the loss of millions of jobs and factories that would never again open their doors,” he said. 

The German chancellor and his government have also come under fire for not weaning off Russian energy immediately. Scholz said in early April that his country is doing all it can to achieve this goal “very soon.”

Scholz said the most important goal in the current situation is a ceasefire and that Russian troops must withdraw. ”There must be a peace agreement that enables Ukraine to defend itself in future,” he said. 

The Mayor of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has told CNN that “one clear day of cease fire” is needed to evacuate civilians sheltering in the Azovstal iron and steel plant.

Hundreds of soldiers and civilians are believed to be hunkered down in the huge industrial complex that has become the final bastion of Ukrainian defenders in the city.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the “liberation” of Mariupol by Russian forces, but ordered troops to blockade the steel plant rather than storm it.

Ukrainian officials have denied that the city has fallen to Russia.

“The day before yesterday, we planned to open up an evacuation route that these people [inside the plant] could join,” Mariupol mayor Vadym Boichenko told CNN New Day on Friday.

“However, the Russian forces continued bombarding the plant and shelling the plant and we weren’t able to get the people out of there.”

Yuriy Ryzhenkov, the CEO of Metinvest Holding which owns the Azovstal plant, recently told CNN that the situation inside is “close to catastrophe” as food and water supplies dwindle.

Boichenko added that around 20,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in Mariupol, which has been leveled by Russian attacks during the course of the war.

CNN cannot independently verify the death toll following weeks of heavy bombardment of Mariupol. Evidence has emerged of mass graves outside the city following the publication of satellite images collected and analyzed by Maxar Technologies.

Journalists in the city have also documented the hasty burial of civilians there, and images have surfaced on social media showing bodies apparently left for collection in the city.

Boichenko said that 90% of the city’s buildings were destroyed as of March 21.

“It is very painful for me to see this, very painful and sad,” Boichenko said.

“And it was blossoming. It was turning into a modern city. We were developing it as a modern, state-of-the-art city to fulfil people’s dreams as we imagined … I feel as if my heart has been torn out,” he said.

Forensic investigators are examining 1,084 bodies of civilians found in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, according to the police.

Andrii Nebytov, the head of police for Kyiv region, said the bodies had been examined by forensic investigators following the recapture of the region by Ukrainian forces. 

“Currently, the number of dead bodies is 1,084, they were examined by investigators and taken to forensic facilities,” Nebytov said, adding:

Nebytov said that more than 300 bodies have not yet been identified, adding: “I’d like to appeal to the citizens: inform us about your acquaintances and relatives who have disappeared and are not in touch. Do not wait.”

Investigators in the Kyiv region and other parts of Ukraine wrested from Russian control said they have found widespread evidence of the killing of civilians by Russian forces. 

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Friday that the British Embassy in Ukraine will reopen in Kyiv “very shortly.”

“The extraordinary fortitude and success of President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces in Kyiv means that I can announce today that we will very shortly, next week, reopen our embassy in Ukraine’s capital city,” Johnson said in a press conference following his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

Johnson paid tribute to British diplomats who have remained elsewhere in the region and said his country will continue to support Ukraine:

“What I think we’ve seen here in New Delhi is one of the world’s oldest democracies and the world’s largest democracy sticking together and confronting our shared anxieties about autocracies and autocratic coercion around the world and acting together to make our countries safer and more prosperous,” he added. 

Some context: The UK is one of a number of countries that has recently announced the reopening of embassies in Ukraine’s capital.

On Monday, Spain said it would reopen its embassy in Kyiv “in the coming days.”

France also announced last week that its embassy in Ukraine would “very soon” return to Kyiv from Lviv, while Italy said previously that it intended to reopen its embassy in Kyiv after Easter.

The European Union is also resuming its diplomatic presence in Kyiv after moving it temporarily to Poland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the bloc announced earlier this month. 

Slovenia has reopened its embassy in Kyiv on March 28, according to Slovenia’s Foreign Ministry.   

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has called on NATO to send more troops to eastern Europe including to his own country.

Nausėda dicsussed the issue on Friday with Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who was visiting the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

The pair also discussed military assistance to Ukraine, Ukraine’s status as an EU candidate country, and sanctions against Russia and Belarus, according to a statement from the President’s office.

Germany leads NATO’s battle group in Lithuania. At least 28,000 allied troops were stationed there as of March 22, according to the latest figures from NATO.

Nausėda said he wants to see an upgrade of air policing to air and missile defense, and a switch from forward presence to forward defense, according to the statement. He said:

Nausėda also says he wants to strengthen NATO’s presence on the Suwałki Corridor, which sits on Lithuanian-Polish border and links Belarus to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad in the Baltics.

The West should also impose more sanctions on Russia and Belarus, Nausėd said. 

Some background: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has prompted NATO to deploy more troops to the Eastern Flank.

As of March 21, 40,000 allied troops were stationed in the Baltics as well as Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, according to NATO’s most recent information.

Battle groups are military forces from different NATO countries that train and are stationed together so that, if a conflict arises, they are prepared as a united NATO force.

Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, NATO has agreed to establish four more battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Those forces add to the battle groups that were established by NATO in 2017 in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, meaning NATO now has forces deployed all along its Eastern European flank.

Pope Francis said Thursday that his planned June meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has been cancelled because at this time it “could lead to much confusion.”

Kirill has previously backed Russia’s war in Ukraine, alleging last month that gay pride parades were part of the reason for the invasion.

A long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirill is a major religious figure in Russia, where the Russian Orthodox religion is considered an integral part of the country’s identity.

Speaking to the Argentinean newspaper La Nacion, Pope Francis said his relationship with Kirill was “very good.”

“I regret that the Vatican has had to suspend a second meeting with Patriarch Kirill, which we had scheduled for June in Jerusalem. But our diplomacy understood that a meeting of the two at this time could lead to much confusion.”

Asked about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Francis answered:

Asked why he never publicly mentioned Russia or Putin, Francis said “a pope never speaks about a head of state, and even less about a country, who is superior to [its] head of state.

The pope also said the Vatican could play a role in negotiations. “There are always procedures. The Vatican never rests. I cannot tell you the details because they would cease to be diplomatic efforts. But the attempts will never stop,” he told the newspaper.

On Friday, the Vatican’s press office director Matteo Bruni said Francis is slowing down his agenda due to medical checks. Due to pain in his right knee, he needed to sit while reading his Easter message and celebrating the Easter vigil mass.

Germany will provide a further 37 million euros ($40.12 million) aid to Ukraine for reconstruction, the country’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development said Friday.

The announcement came as the country’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said that an early end to the war is unlikely. 

There cannot be a ceasefire at any price,” Baerbock said at a joint press conference in Vilnius with her Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis.

Baerbock went on to say that a “dictatorial peace” with the Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be accepted.

Stephanie von Ehrlich, a spokeswoman of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development told CNN the 37 million euros would go towards different initiatives:

“My ministry has reallocated funds for this via an emergency program,” German Development Minister Svenja Schulze said in a written statement obtained by CNN.

Schulze said the reconstruction of Ukraine will require the solidarity of the international community. “The World Bank was once founded to rebuild Europe after World War II. In the future, it can play an important role in helping Ukraine rebuild,” she added.

As relations between Russia and Japan deteriorate over the war in Ukraine, Japan has, for the first time in almost 20 years, described four disputed islands as “illegally occupied” by Russia.

Relations between Russia and Japan have soured since the invasion of Ukraine was launched back in February, and this appears to be the first time Japan has invoked such language in almost two decades.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also referred to the islands, which Russia calls the Southern Kurils, as “Northern Territories” in its annual diplomatic report released Friday.

According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Japan has not referred to the islands as being “illegally occupied” since 2003.

The report states that Japan sees the islands as “Japanese territories over which Japan holds sovereign rights, but are currently illegally occupied by Russia.”

Located off the coast of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, the disputed territories were captured by Soviet forces following Japan’s surrender to Allied Forces in 1945.

The disagreement over who has rightful ownership of these islands has resulted in one of the world’s longest-running unresolved territorial disputes, causing friction between Japan and Russia for decades. 

Some background: Back in 2019 the leaders of Russia and Japan said at a meeting in Moscow that they remain committed to eventually signing a peace treaty, decades after the end of World War II, but that serious differences remain over the fate of a small group of islands off the coast of Japan.

The disputed territory, located off the coast of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, consists of four separate islands: Iturup, known in Japanese as Etorofu, Kunashir, or Kunashiri, Shikotan and the islet group of Habomai.

The islands were occupied by Soviet forces at the end of WWII, when as many as 17,000 Japanese citizens were expelled. Around 19,000 settlers currently live on the islands, according to intelligence firm Stratfor.

UN human rights officers have documented the “unlawful killing, including by summary execution, of some 50 civilians” in Bucha, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, the UN Human Rights Office said Friday.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) has documented and verified at least 5,264 civilian casualties – 2,345 killed and 2,919 injured, the UN said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said:

“The scale of summary executions of civilians in areas previously occupied by Russian forces are also emerging. The preservation of evidence and decent treatment of mortal remains must be ensured, as well as psychological and other relief for victims and their relatives,” Bachelet went on to say.

“Almost every resident in Bucha our colleagues spoke to told us about the death of a relative, a neighbor or even a stranger. We know much more needs to be done to uncover what happened there and we also know Bucha is not an isolated incident.”

Some background: Earlier this month, accounts of summary executions, brutality and indiscriminate shelling emerged in the wake of Russia’s hasty retreat from central Ukraine. CNN teams saw dozens of bodies buried or strewn across the ground in the devastated suburb of Bucha, after a brutal occupation that lasted over a month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has blamed Russia for the killings and called on Moscow to stop committing “war crimes.”

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the mass killings, while reiterating baseless claims that the images of civilian bodies on the streets of Bucha are fake.

Anheuser-Busch InBev said on Friday it would sell its stake in Russian joint-venture AB InBev Efes which will result in a $1.1 billion impairment charge in its first quarter results.

The announcement by the world’s largest brewer, based in Belgium, comes after similar moves from its rivals Carlsberg and Heineken.

In March, AB InBev (BUD) suspended sales of its Budweiser brand in Russia and forfeited financial benefit from its Russian joint venture, following the lead of other major brewers in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow dubs a “special operation.”

“AB InBev today announced that it will sell its non-controlling interest in the AB InBev Efes joint venture and is in active discussions with its partner, Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes, to acquire this interest,” AB InBev said in a statement.

Picture taken during a press moment for a new reusable bottles production line in Stella Artois brewery in Leuven, Tuesday 08 February 2022

Related article Budweiser brewer AB InBev is selling its stake in 11 Russian breweries

Russia has revealed that the goal of its invasion of Ukraine is to take “full control” over southern Ukraine as well as the eastern Donbas region.

The announcement by a top military official marks the first time Russia admitted it was fighting to establish a land corridor through Ukrainian territory connecting Russia to Crimea, the peninsula it annexed in 2014.

“Since the beginning of the second phase of the special operation, which began literally two days ago, one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over Donbas and southern Ukraine. This will provide a land corridor to Crimea,” Maj. Gen. Rustam Minnekaev, the acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, said according to TASS, a Russian state news agency.

Minnekaev, speaking at the annual general meeting of the Union of Defense Industry Enterprises of the Sverdlovsk region, was quoted by TASS as saying the aim was to create a land corridor between Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and Crimea.

He added that control over Ukraine’s south would give Russian forces access to Transnistria, a separatist statelet in Moldova, where a contingent of Russian forces has been stationed since the early 1990s.

Russian forces at present have only partial control of southern Ukraine, with the Ukrainian government still in control of the key cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa and some Ukrainian forces holding out in a steel plant in the encircled port of Mariupol.

Russia in recent weeks withdrew its forces in northern Ukraine after a failure to take Kyiv, with Russian military officials claiming that their strategic goals had shifted to taking all of the eastern Donbas region.

Asked by reporters Friday to elaborate on what territories were meant by southern Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment and referred questions to the Ministry of Defense.

Ukrainian authorities have warned in recent days that Russian forces occupying the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson were planning to stage a sham referendum declaring a so-called “Kherson People’s Republic” in the coming days, mirroring the Russian-backed creation of separatist republics in Donbas in 2014 that set the stage for Russia’s invasion on February 24.

Two of India’s biggest businesses are moving away from Russia, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi refrains from taking a tough stance against Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Tata Steel, one of the largest steelmakers in India, said on Wednesday that it has “taken a conscious decision to stop doing business with Russia.”

The company, which is also one of the biggest steel producers in Europe, said it has a plan in place to ensure minimal disruption to its business.

Tata Steel is part of Tata Group, one of India’s biggest multinational conglomerate.

Its announcement comes just days after Infosys, one of India’s largest tech companies, said that it has started moving its operations out of Russia.

The interior of the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot, Wales is seen on April 2, 2020.

Related article Some big Indian businesses are joining the exodus from Russia | CNN Business

At least one person died and two were injured when an Antonov plane crashed Friday morning in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, local authorities said.

“Today at 09:00 [7am Eastern Time] near Mykhailivka in Zaporizhzhia district, an AN-26 plane – which, according to preliminary information, belonged to Ukraine – crashed. The airplane was performing a technical flight,” the Zaporizhzhia Region Military Administration said Friday on its official Telegram channel.

The number of crew members on board the plane and the reasons for the crash are still being clarified, the regional administration said, adding that according to preliminary – and so far unconfirmed information – the plane hit an electric pole which caused the engine to set on fire.

“The State Emergency Service units and relevant services are working at the scene,” the regional administration said.

London’s Metropolitan Police has received around 50 referrals of alleged war crimes in Ukraine, the force said Friday.

The Met Police is collating evidence to assist the International Criminal Court (ICC) with its ongoing investigation into the war in Ukraine. 

Its War Crimes Team has appealed to anyone in the UK with knowledge of war crimes committed in Ukraine to come forward. It is looking at incidents that happened at any time from 21 November 2013 onwards, the Met’s statement said.

“Since the start of the recent military activity in February, our officers have been proactively engaging with Ukrainian communities in the UK,” Detective Chief Superintendent Dominic Murphy, head of operations for the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said in the statement.

“We want to make sure those people know we’re here and that we’re ready to receive any evidence of war crimes from them, as well as provide them with the support and help that they might need in relation to that.”

“I’d also ask any households across the country who have volunteered to host Ukrainian people that should you come into contact with anyone who might have been witness to, or victim of possible war crimes, then you encourage them to contact us,” he said, adding:

Some background: During a visit to the towns of Bucha and Borodianka earlier this month, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC are being committed.”

Khan also warned that it would be “challenging” to guarantee justice would be served in Ukraine, given Russia’s decision to withdraw its signature from the ICC statute, which gives the court jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

Serhiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk region military administration, said Friday that Russian shelling disrupted an attempt to evacuate civilians from the heavily contested eastern Ukrainian town of Rubizhne, stopping a bus from reaching the town.

“We will try to get to the southern part of Rubizhne by car, because people are waiting to be evacuated,” Haidai said.

“We will also bring food there. Unfortunately, the evacuation bus did not get there due to the heavy artillery fire. The Russians do not allow us to save the civilians, they are blocking people in cities that are constantly under fire. “

Rubizhne has seen heavy fighting amid a Russian offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

On Wednesday, Haidai told CNN that 80% of Luhansk’s territory is under Russian control. In the last few weeks, Russian forces have made a greater effort to direct their invasion toward taking parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Galina Nikolaevna is weeping in the wreckage of her home in the village of Kamyshevakha in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Two days ago, a couple of Russian shells landed on the house and the garage, making it uninhabitable.

But Nikolaevna and her husband are refusing to leave.

Like so many people here, they have nowhere to go and no means to support themselves, Nikolaevna said. She has been told that it costs $300 just to get to Bakhmut, the nearest town under full Ukrainian control.

This village, on the outskirts of Popasna in Luhansk, has been hit hard by artillery over the past days. People here are now completely cut off from basic services. Large buckets and troughs are laid out in front of the damaged building to collect the rainwater. 

Read the full story here:

Aleksandr Prokopenko sets out from Bakhmut to rescue residents near his hometown turned battleground of Popasna village. "I love my town and I can't leave it," Prokopenko says. "I can't leave the people here. Somebody needs to help people."

Related article 'I can't leave it': The residents of an embattled Donbas village are determined to stay | CNN

New satellite images have revealed newly dug mass graves outside Mariupol. The desperate situation in the the besieged southern city shows continues, with Ukraine saying that no evacuation corridors have been agreed with the Russians for Friday.

Here are the latest developments on Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has devoted considerable airtime over the past few weeks to reassuring the Russian public that sanctions hurt the West more than they hurt Russia.

Putin is preparing his country for the long haul.

“The collective West does not plan on backing off its policy of economic pressure on Russia,” he told aviation executives recently. Every sector of Russia’s economy needs to “make a long-term plan based on internal opportunities.”

Putin’s policy of self-reliance was predictable. Ever since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, the country has been preparing for increased Western sanctions with a strategy dubbed “Fortress Russia.”

And yet the scale of the economic counter-offensive waged by the West since the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, along with the rising tide of companies cutting off business with Russia to guard against reputational risk or future sanctions, was a shock.

Here are some of the ways companies, industries, and officials are scrambling to live with Russia’s new normal.

Read the full story:

The building of the Central Bank of Russia on Neglinnaya street in Moscow on March 6.

Related article 4 ways Russia is trying to prove it can live with sanctions

Ukrainian officials described heavy fighting throughout the Donetsk and Luhansk regions amid a Russian offensive in the Donbas. 

Olena Symonenko, an adviser to the Deputy Head of the Office of the President, said in televised remarks late Thursday that over the last 24-hour period, 42 more settlements had come under Russian control in the Donetsk region.

“This happened today, so it may well happen that our armed forces will return them under our control tomorrow. But as of today, we understand that fierce hostilities are ongoing in these settlements. And people who stayed there are staying in the shelters or basements.”

Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, said that Russian forces had been advancing in three directions toward the towns of Rubizhne, Popasna and Novotoshkivske. 

“The enemy is trying to advance in the area of ​​Rubizhne,” he said. “The defensive battles with the enemy continue in the direction of the settlements of Novotoshkivske and Popasna.”

Some context: Haidai told CNN on Wednesday that 80% of Luhansk’s territory is under Russian control. Russian forces have made a greater effort in the last few weeks to direct their invasion toward taking parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.

No evacuation corridors in Ukraine have been agreed with the Russians due to “danger on the routes,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Friday.

Ukrainian officials have appealed for the Russians to guarantee safe passage for civilians, particularly those trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Donetsk regional military administrator, said 79 residents of the besieged city of Mariupol were safely evacuated to Zaproizhzhia on Thursday, adding that almost 100,000 residents of Mariupol have already arrived in Zaporizhzhia.

Evacuations of Mariupol have been fraught with danger, however, as corridors for safe passage have failed on numerous occasions due to Russian forces’ attacks in the area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the “liberation” of the besieged southern port city of Mariupol by Russian forces but claimed to have stopped short of storming of a steel plant — the final bastion of Ukrainian defenders inside the city, where civilians have also sheltered. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces there continue to resist.

Here are the latest developments:

A Ukrainian lawmaker said on Friday that Russia’s brutality during its invasion of the country is evidence it cannot be trusted to uphold future peace and described its acts as “genocide.”

Kira Rudik, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, told CNN in an interview from Kyiv that fellow lawmakers were heartbroken over the news on Thursday of evacuation corridors in the besieged city of Mariupol — where estimates of tens of thousands of civilians are trapped — failing to hold.

“We had at least five buses of women and children ready to go, and we were not able to take them out because Russians didn’t stop firing. We were not able to get the ceasefire from them, though beforehand they promised to do that,” Rudik said.
“So, could you even imagine what these women and children felt sitting there in the buses for, I don’t know, a couple of hours waiting if their life will be spared or not. And they were not. They had to return back.”

Russian atrocities have made it apparent to Ukrainians that the entirety of the nation must be defended at all costs, she said, noting the slain civilians found in cities north of Kyiv after Russian forces retreated.

“We are aware about what’s facing us if we fail. I have been to Bucha. I know what they will do to us. And I don’t want this to happen to myself, to any of the people that I love. That’s why we are fighting. We’ll be fighting for every single inch right until the end.”

Rudik said she had faith in the international community to try and help put pressure on Russia moving forward, but called out countries for taking “halfway” acts — condemning the invasion yet still conducting trade with Russia.

Referencing Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, she added, “I understand that it takes time for the world to adapt to the truth that we in Ukraine have known for eight years. You cannot trust Russia.”

Rudik told CNN she did not have faith in settlements or negotiations because of Russian aggression, equivalating Putin’s acts with Nazi Germany in World War II.  

“This is why we are explaining to the world that what’s happening in Ukraine is called genocide. This is why we’re explaining to the world that you cannot get into any peaceful agreement with Russia, because in comparison it is like going into a peaceful agreement with Hitler and saying, ‘Oh, we will talk to him and probably he will spare some lives of the Jews,’” she said.

Further evacuations of Mariupol: Shelling near the extraction point prevented people from being evacuated Thursday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had said.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Donetsk regional military administrator, said 79 residents of the besieged city of Mariupol were safely evacuated to Zaproizhzhia on Thursday.

Ukrainian officials say they have identified mass graves outside the city of Mariupol, which they say adds to mounting proof of Russian war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.

The claim is supported by photos collected and analyzed by US satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies that appears to show more than 200 new graves at a site on the northwestern edge of Manhush, a town around 12 miles (19 kilometers) to the west of Mariupol.

An estimated 100,000 people remain trapped in Mariupol which has been under constant bombardment since it was surrounded by Russian forces on March 1, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian officials claim that more than 20,000 people in the city have died during the assault.

In a post Thursday on messaging app Telegram, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said Russian trucks had collected bodies from the port city, before “dumping them” in Manhush.

CNN cannot independently verify claims Russians have disposed of bodies in mass graves at that location. A firm death toll following weeks of heavy bombardment of Mariupol is not available.

However, journalists in Mariupol have documented the hasty burial of civilians in the besieged city, and images have surfaced on social media showing bodies apparently left for collection in the city.

Read the full story:

An overview of a cemetery and expansion of graves is seen on March 23.

Related article Mass graves near besieged Ukrainian city Mariupol are evidence of war crimes, say Ukrainian officials | CNN

When Russian troops invaded Ukraine and began closing in on its capital, Kyiv, Andrii Dereko begged his 22-year-old stepdaughter Karina Yershova to leave the suburb where she lived.

But Yershova insisted she wanted to remain in Bucha, telling him: “Don’t talk nonsense, everything will be fine — there will be no war,” he said.

With her tattoos and long brown hair, Yershova stood out in a crowd, her stepfather said.

As Russian soldiers surrounded Bucha in early March, Yershova hid in an apartment with two other friends. When weeks went by without a word from Yershova, the family became desperate for news. 

Her mother was told by friends that images of a dead woman with similar tattoos to Yershova’s – which included a rose on her forearm – had been posted on a Telegram group set up by a detective in Bucha who was trying to identify hundreds of bodies found in the town after Russian troops withdrew from the area two weeks ago.

Dereko says the images, seen by CNN, show his stepdaughter’s mutilated body. Police told the family she had been killed by Russian soldiers.

Dereko also believes Yershova was sexually abused by Russian troops. “The [police] investigator hinted” that she had been raped, he said.

Read the full story:

Related article Russian troops use rape as 'an instrument of war' in Ukraine, rights groups allege

As Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the effort to capture Mariupol from Ukraine a “success” and ordered his forces to halt outside the city’s besieged Azovstal steel factory, US President Joe Biden said Thursday it was “questionable” whether the city had fallen. Meanwhile, an estimated tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol remain trapped by air and ground attacks with little opportunity to evacuate safely, and satellite images point to evidence of mass graves outside the city.

Here are the latest developments on Russia’s war in Ukraine:

The Estonian and Latvian parliaments adopted statements on Thursday saying Russia has committed genocide in Ukraine.

In its statement, Estonia said “systematic and massive war crimes have been committed against the Ukrainian nation by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” according to its parliament, the Riigikogu.

It cited the towns of Bucha, Borodianka, Hostomel, Irpin and Mariupol as well as other settlements that were occupied by Russian forces.

“The Russian Federation has committed acts of genocide, inter alia mass atrocities against the civilian population. These have consisted of murders, enforced disappearances, deportations, imprisonment, torture, rape, and desecration of corpses,” the statement said.

Latvia’s parliament, the Saeima, unanimously adopted the statement, saying it was based on “extensive testimonies and evidence of brutal mass atrocities — the murders, torture, sexual violence and desecration of Ukrainian civilians, including women and children.”

“As a member state of the UN, the Council of Europe, the EU, and NATO and a defender of democratic values, Latvia cannot accept the actions of the Russian Federation, carrying out mass destruction of Ukrainian people,” it said in a press release.

What is genocide: The UN defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Genocide is when crimes against humanity are carried out with the goal of eliminating a population.

US President Joe Biden recently called the atrocities being uncovered in Ukraine “genocide.”

In his nightly address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia that any attempts at annexation will lead to sanctions that will leave it as poor as it was after its civil war in 1917.

“I want to say straight away: any ‘Kherson People’s Republics’ are not going to fly. If someone wants a new annexation, it can only lead to new powerful sanctions strikes on Russia. You will make your country as poor as Russia hasn’t been since the 1917 civil war. So it is better to seek peace now,” Zelensky said.

He urged the residents of the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be very careful about the information they provide to Russian troops.

“If they ask you to fill out some questionnaires, leave your passport data somewhere, you should know - this is not to help you … This is aimed to falsify the so-called referendum on your land, if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show,” he said.

Zelensky thanked the prime ministers of Spain and Denmark for their support as they arrived in Kyiv and thanked the Danish prime minister for showing readiness to support post-war reconstruction in Ukraine, particularly in Mykolaiv.

The Ukrainian president also thanked the US for additional support, saying, “The United States has announced a new package of support for our state. We are grateful for that. This package contains very powerful defense tools for our military. In particular, it is artillery, shells, drones. This is what we expected.”

Earlier on Thursday, Zelensky addressed the Parliament of Portugal and said as of Thursday, Russian forces have killed at least 1,126 Ukrainians in the Kyiv region alone, of which 40 are children. He also said Russian forces have already “deported” at least 500,000 Ukrainians from the territory they have occupied.

Russia on Thursday expanded its “stop list” banning a further 29 American officials and figures from entering Russia on an indefinite basis, including US Vice President Kamala Harris and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that the list was published “in response to the ever-expanding anti-Russian sanctions” and includes US individuals of “the top leaders, businessmen, experts and journalists who form the Russophobic agenda.” 

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, ABC TV host George Stephanopoulos, and Bank of America head Brian Moynihan have also been added to the list. 

 “In the near future, a new announcement will follow about the next replenishment of the Russian ‘stop list,” the statement said.  

Ukraine’s military intelligence on Wednesday released a purported communications intercept of Russian armed forces referring to an alleged order to kill Ukrainian prisoners of war in the city of Popasna in the eastern region of Luhansk, which is bearing the brunt of Russia’s renewed attack.   

“The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine received an audio interception of the occupiers’ conversation, which refers to the order to kill all prisoners of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who are in their captivity in the area of Popasna (Luhansk Region),” Ukrainian military intelligence tweeted on Wednesday. 

“This is a blatant war crime, a violation of international law, and another striking example that the Russian military are murderers, rapists, and looters,” it added. 

The alleged intercepted audio recording released Wednesday appears to feature the voices of unknown Russian soldiers saying: “What can I tell you, damn it, [expletive], [unintelligible] – you keep the most senior among them, and let the rest go forever. Let them go forever, damn it, so that no one will ever see them again, including relatives.” 

CNN cannot vouch for the authenticity of the recording and has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment. 

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has previously released a purported communications intercept of a Russian ground unit commander, who said Russian aircraft were planning to “level everything to the ground” around Azovstal, the steel factory that is a redoubt of Ukrainian defenders in the besieged port city of Mariupol. 

On Thursday, in a meeting with his defense minister, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there is no need to storm the plant, but it should be surrounded, and those inside should be offered a chance to surrender.  

“Block off this industrial area so a fly cannot get through,” he said.    

The SBU also previously released audio from purported intercepted radio traffic revealing Russian soldiers discussing killing and raping civilians, bolstering allegations of war crimes by Russian troops.   

Germany’s foreign intelligence service has also intercepted alleged radio communications where Russian soldiers talked about shooting soldiers and civilians in Ukraine. Military observers have also noted a tendency of Russian troops to use unsecured communications in Ukraine. 

Speaking from an undisclosed location to CNN on Wednesday, Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, said 80% of his region’s territory is under Russian control, and if Ukraine doesn’t resist, “Russia is certainly not going to stop here and will push further on.” 

“Certainly they [Russians] are spreading out a lot,” he said. “We’ve established our defenses in a lot of towns. They’re trying to encircle our troops, a lot of nasty business is going on there…but they haven’t had any successes so far. We are doing well to destroy their equipment.”

Haidai went on to say that “We have a very serious situation here. The whole of Luhansk territory is being shelled. There is no safe town… We understand that the Russian government is going to push ahead and going to destroy everything in its path. So what we are doing is trying to evacuate everyone as much as possible.” 

A satellite image shows an alleged mass grave in the village of Manhush, outside the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, on April 3. (2022 Maxar Technologies)

Ukrainian officials on Tuesday identified the location of apparent mass graves outside the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol — claims bolstered by the publication of satellite images collected and analyzed by Maxar Technologies.

In a post Thursday on Telegram, Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, wrote: “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.” 

Andriushchenko — who is not in Mariupol but has served as a clearinghouse for information from inside the besieged city — posted the coordinates on Telegram, saying Russian forces had dug several mass graves, each measuring about 30 meters (around 100 feet), in Manhush, a town around 12 miles (about 19 kilometers) to the west of Mariupol. 

“Trucks carry in the bodies of the dead, in fact, simply dumping them on the embankment,” he said. “This is direct evidence of war crimes and attempts to cover them up.”

Maxar published analysis of satellite imagery Tuesday appearing to show evidence of new graves at a site on the northwestern edge of Manhush.

“According to recent media reports, Russian soldiers have been taking the bodies of people killed in Mariupol to this location,” Maxar said in its analysis. “A review of our satellite images from mid-March through mid-April indicate that the expansion of the new set of graves began between March 23-26, 2022 and has continued to expand over the past couple of weeks. The graves are aligned in four sections of linear rows (measuring approximately 85 meters per section) and contain more than 200 new graves.” 

Vadym Boichenko, the mayor of Mariupol, also alleged Thursday that Russian forces have buried bodies in mass graves in Manhush, amid claims by Ukrainian officials that as many as 20,000 people have died in weeks of bombardment.

“More than 20,000 civilians — women, children, elderly people — died on the streets of our city from enemy artillery, aircraft,” he said. “And this is also [based] on the evidence of the heads of our municipal services, who saw it. And unfortunately, we have seen that the bodies of dead Mariupol residents have begun to disappear from the streets of our city.” 

Boichenko said the mass graves were off a bypass road, near a cemetery.

“And there is a field near the cemetery, and in this field there are ditches, 30 meters (about 90 feet) long, and there they bury them, bring the bodies of the dead by trucks and throw them into these ditches,” he said. 

CNN cannot independently verify claims that Russians have disposed of bodies in mass graves at that location, and a firm death toll following weeks of heavy bombardment of Mariupol is not available. Journalists in Mariupol have documented the hasty burial of civilians in the besieged city, and images have surfaced on social media showing bodies apparently left for collection in the city. 

Evidence of mass graves outside Mariupol surfaced as Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the “liberation” of the city by Russian forces, although he also called off an attempt to storm the Azovstal steel plant, the final bastion of Ukrainian defenders inside the city, where civilians have also sheltered.

“Unfortunately, it is not possible today to evacuate civilians from Azovstal,” Boichenko said. “Because we are asking for a stable ceasefire. Somewhere we need one day to be able to accommodate those residents who have been hiding there for 57 days in a row, and they are being bombed, bombed and bombed.”

Boichenko estimated that around 100,000 people remain in Mariupol.