The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor will join an EU investigations team to probe possible international crimes committed in Ukraine, the EU's judicial cooperation agency said Monday. It will mark the first time the Hague-based ICC – set up in 2002 as an independent tribunal to probe the world's worst crimes – will take part in a joint investigation with other countries. Follow the day's events as they unfolded on our liveblog. All times are in Paris time (GMT+2).
This live page is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
04:36am: Pressure mounts on Germany’s Schroeder over Russia ties
Pressure was growing Monday inside Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) to expel their former leader and ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder over his apparent refusal to renounce his business ties with Russia.
Schroeder, who is a lobbyist for Russian gas and has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, sparked fresh outrage following remarks in an interview with the New York Times published this weekend.
Unrepentant over his business links with Russia, he told the newspaper: “I don’t do mea culpa. It’s not my thing.”
SPD co-president Saskia Esken was asked in an interview with state radio whether Schroeder should quit the party.
“I think he should,” she replied. The party was currently examining 14 motions to have its former leader expelled, she told journalists later, adding that the final decision would come down to the party’s arbitration body.
But she also told journalists: “He makes his money working for Russian state businesses… Gerhard Schroeder has for many years been a businessman, and we should stop seeing him as a former honourable leader, a former chancellor.”
Thomas Kutschaty, another senior party figure, was equally scathing.
“He has to choose,” he told Welt TV. “Either he keeps supporting Putin, or he is a member of the Social Democrats, but the two are not compatible.
FRANCE 24’s Joseph Keen reports:
03:10am: Britain to lift all tariffs on Ukrainian imports
All tariffs on goods coming to Britain from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed to help the Ukrainian economy, the British government announced on Monday.
London said tariffs would be reduced to zero and all quotas removed following a direct request from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying the move would provide a boost for Ukrainian businesses involved in key exports such as barley, honey, tinned tomatoes and poultry.
“We stand unwaveringly with Ukraine in this ongoing fight and will work to ensure Ukraine survives and thrives as a free and sovereign nation,” said British International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
Britain said currently the average tariff on Ukrainian imports was about 22 percent. It said the planned change had been offered on a non-reciprocal basis, but Kyiv was likely to match the British action.
Additionally, the British government said it would also impose further export bans on products to Russia, including cash, maritime goods and technology, and energy-related goods. Last week, it ramped up sanctions on luxury goods including caviar, silver and diamonds.
01:59am: US hosts Ukraine talks in Germany as war enters critical phase
The United States will host an expected gathering of more than 40 countries on Tuesday for Ukraine-related defense talks that will focus on arming Kyiv so it can defend against an unfolding and potentially decisive Russian onslaught in the east, US officials said.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is holding the event at Ramstein Air Base in Germany following a trip to Kyiv where he pledged additional support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s war effort.
US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a key goal of the talks was to synchronize and coordinate mounting security assistance to Kyiv that includes heavy weaponry, like howitzer artillery, as well armed drones and ammunition.
“The next several weeks will be very, very critical,” Milley told reporters travelling with him. “They need continued support in order to be successful on the battlefield. And that’s really the purpose of this conference.”
April 26, 12:17am: Russia says NATO engaging in ‘proxy’ war in Ukraine, arms shipments legitimate targets
Deliveries of Western weaponry to Ukraine mean that the NATO alliance is “in essence engaged in war with Russia” and Moscow views these weapons as legitimate targets, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview aired on Monday.
“These weapons will be a legitimate target for Russia’s military acting within the context of the special operation,” Lavrov told state television in an interview posted on the foreign ministry’s website.
“Storage facilities in western Ukraine have been targeted more than once (by Russian forces). How can it be otherwise?” Lavrov said. “NATO, in essence, is engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy. War means war.”
11:34pm: US Senate leader expects ‘swift’ action on next round of military funding to Ukraine
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday said he expected “swift, bipartisan” passage of another bill to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia once President Joe Biden submits a new funding request.
While Schumer did not provide any details on the possible size of such a package, he said, “We must continue helping the people of Ukraine in their fight against Russian aggression” and “I expect swift bipartisan cooperation to get it done.”
11:25pm: UK says Russian invasion likely to cut Ukraine’s grain harvest by 20 percent this year
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has significantly disrupted Ukrainian agricultural production, the UK’s ministry of defence tweeted in a regular bulletin on Monday.
“Ukrainian grain harvest for 2022 is likely to be around 20% lower than 2021 due to reduced sowing areas following invasion,” it said.
The reduced grain supply from Ukraine will generate inflationary pressures, elevating the global price of grain, British military intelligence said.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 April 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/GTz05lanun
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/cTCajm8Y7p
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 25, 2022
10:50pm: Russia's Lavrov says military situation to determine any agreement with Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that the Ukrainian conflict will end with an agreement but its content will depend on the military situation.
Of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Lavrov told Russian news agencies that he was confident that “everything will of course finish with the signing of an accord.
“But the parameters of this accord will be defined by the state of the fighting that will have taken place at the moment the accord becomes reality,” he added.
Lavrov also told Russian state television in an interview that Kyiv was only imitating negotiations, according to a transcript published on the foreign ministry’s website.
9:57pm: White House says more sanctions against Russia likely
The United States is likely to impose more economic sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and “no one is safe from our sanctions”, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.
Psaki would not comment specifically on a Wall Street Journal report that the reported mother of three of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s children had so far not been sanctioned to avoid riling Putin.
6:55pm: United Kingdom to ship missile launch vehicles to Ukraine
Britain is to send to Ukraine armoured vehicles able to fire missiles against invading Russian aircraft, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday.
Ukrainian forces have been using UK-donated Starstreak high velocity and low velocity missiles against Russian forces for over three weeks, he told parliament.
"We shall be gifting a small number of armoured vehicles fitted with launchers for those anti-air missiles," Wallace said.
"These Stormer vehicles will give Ukraine forces enhanced short-range anti-air capabilities both day and night."
Fears of escalating the conflict mean that NATO members including Britain are limited in what military hardware they can send to Ukraine.
Wallace said Britain's military contribution so far included 5,000 anti-tank missiles, five air defence systems with over 100 missiles and 4.5 tonnes of plastic explosive.
5:03pm: ICC prosecutor to join EU team investigating crimes in Ukraine
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor will join an EU investigations team to probe possible international crimes committed in Ukraine, the EU's judicial cooperation agency said Monday.
It will be the first time the Hague-based ICC—set up in 2002 as an independent tribunal to probe the world's worst crimes—will take part in a joint investigation with other countries.
"The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague will become a participant in the joint investigation team (JIT) on alleged core international crimes committed in Ukraine," Eurojust said in a statement.
Chief prosecutor Karim Khan has signed an agreement with prosecutors general of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine to take part in a joint investigative team to look into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since Russia's invasion on February 24.
The agreement "aims to facilitate investigations and prosecutions in the concerned states as well as those that could be taken forward before the ICC", the Hague-based Eurojust said.
Brussels too supported the move, proposing to broaden Eurojust's mandate to allow the agency to "collect, preserve and share evidence of war crimes" to help bolster the probe in Ukraine
4:02pm: Kyiv says Russian strikes on rail infrastructure kill 5 in central Ukraine
At least five people were killed and another 18 injured on Monday in Russian strikes on railway infrastructure in the central Ukraine region of Vinnytsia, Kyiv said.
"Preliminary information shows that five people died and 18 were injured. Rescue operations are under way, investigators, prosecutors and other services are working at the scene," the office of the Ukrainian prosecutor general said in a statement on social media.
3:37pm: Ukraine war has consequences for Asia, EU chief warns neutral India
Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatens India's regional security, the European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said Monday during a trip to New Delhi aimed at fostering deeper strategic ties.
Von der Leyen is the latest visiting Western diplomat to press India, which gets most of its arms from Russia, over its neutral stance on the conflict.
Both the EU and India face challenges from a rising China, and von der Leyen raised the spectre of Beijing's partnership with Moscow to warn the war had consequences further afield than Europe.
"The outcome of the war will not only determine the future of Europe but also deeply affect the Indo-Pacific region," she told an audience at the Raisina Dialogue, an annual geopolitical conference in New Delhi.
"Russia and China have forged a seemingly unrestrained pact. They have declared that the friendship between them has 'no limits'... What can we expect from the 'new international relations' that both have called for?"
Von der Leyen's trip to New Delhi follows several recent overtures from high-profile diplomatic guests seeking to lure India away from Russia.
3:32pm: Russia expels 40 German diplomats
Russia's foreign ministry said on Monday that it had declared 40 German diplomatic staff "personae non gratae" in a retaliatory move after Berlin expelled the same number of Russian diplomats.
Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement that it had taken the decision after Germany on April 4 declared a "significant number" of officials at the Russian embassy in Berlin "undesirable".
Germany announced the expulsion of 40 Russian diplomats on April 4 following mounting evidence of civilian killings and mass graves in Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
3:06pm: Another 45,000 people escape Ukraine amid war
More than 5.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country since Russia launched its invasion two months ago, with over 45,000 joining their ranks in the past 24 hours, the United Nations said Monday.
In total, 5,232,014 people have fled Ukraine as refugees since February 24, according to the latest data from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
That marks an increase of 45,270 over Sunday’s figure.
The outflow has slowed since the start of the war. Since the beginning of April, just under 1.2 million Ukrainians have fled the country, after some 3.4 million left in March.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said an additional 218,000 citizens of third countries—largely students and migrant workers—have also fled to neighbouring countries since the invasion began.
Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have fled abroad, with men aged 18 to 60 eligible for military call-up unable to leave.
Beyond the refugees, the IOM estimates more than 7.7 million people have been displaced within Ukraine.
Almost two-thirds of Ukrainian children have had to flee their homes, including those who remain in the country.
2:45pm: Visit by top US officials sign of improved security situation in Kyiv
A visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin to Kyiv on Sunday is a strong sign that the security situation in Ukraine's capital has improved. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports.
1:08pm: Biden nominates ambassador to Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has nominated Bridget Brink, the current ambassador to Slovakia, to be the new US ambassador to Ukraine, according to a White House statement.
A foreign service career member, Brink has previously worked at the US embassies in Uzbekistan and Georgia.
The position must be confirmed by the US Senate.
The announcement came a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised a renewed diplomatic push between Washington and Kyiv during his visit to Ukraine.
Blinken said the small staff from the now-shuttered US Embassy in Kyiv, which has relocated to Poland from temporary offices in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, would begin making day trips to Lviv in the coming days.Though several European countries have already reopened their embassies in Kyiv, the return will be gradual for US diplomats, said Blinken.
1:05pm: Putin accuses West of trying to murder Russian journalists
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of trying to murder Russian journalists and claimed the country’s intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), had thwarted one such attempt on a TV reporter.
Speaking on state television, Putin accused foreign special forces, including the CIA, of attempting to advise Kyiv on the murder of Russian journalists.
Putin did not, however, provide evidence to support his claim.
12:32pm: Ukraine denies any deal of ceasefire near Azovstal plant
Ukrainian authorities denied that there had been any agreement on a humanitarian corridor despite an announcement from Russia.
“It is important to understand that a humanitarian corridor opens by the agreement of both sides," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshschuk said on the Telegram messaging app. "A corridor announced unilaterally does not provide security, and therefore is not a humanitarian corridor."
Russia's defence ministry on Monday announced a ceasefire around the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to allow a civilian evacuation from the industrial area that has been sheltering the remaining Ukrainian resistance in the port city.
Russian troops "from 14:00 Moscow time (1100 GMT) on April 25, 2022, will unilaterally stop any hostilities, withdraw units to a safe distance and ensure the withdrawal of" civilians, the defence ministry said in a statement.
10:36am: Russian rockets hit Vinnytsia region, deaths reported: governor
Russia fired rockets at two towns in Ukraine's central Vinnytsia region, causing an unspecified number of deaths and injuries, regional Governor Serhiy Borzov reported.
"Today, Vinnytsia region is once again under rocket fire (in) the towns of Zhmerynka and Kozyatyn. The enemy is attempting to hit critical infrastructure," Borzov said in a video released on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia did not immediately comment on his remarks.
10:29am: Russia strikes Ukrainian oil depot, defence ministry says
Russia struck Ukraine's Kremenchuk oil refinery with long-range missiles, according to the Russian defence ministry.
"High-precision long-range weapons destroyed fuel production facilities at an oil refinery on the northern outskirts of the city of Kremenchuk, as well as petroleum products storage facilities which fuelled military equipment for Ukrainian troops," the ministry said.
The governor of the the Poltava region where Kremenchuk is based had said the refinery was destroyed earlier this month.
9:25am: Five railway stations come under fire: Ukrainian state rail company
Five railway stations came under fire in western and central Ukraine on Monday morning, causing an unspecified number of casualties, Ukrainian television quoted state-run Ukrainian Railways as saying.
Oleksander Kamyshin, the company's chief, said the attacks took place in the space of an hour and details were being checked.
9:08am: US wants Russia 'weakened' so it cannot invade again: Austin
The US wants Russia's military capability weakened so that it cannot carry out another invasion, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told journalists after returning from a trip to Kyiv.
"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 told a group of journalists in Poland.
Austin also said Ukraine can win the war against Russia if it had the right equipment. "The first step in winning is believing that you can win. And so they believe that we can win," he said. "We believe that we can win, they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support."
7:41am: UK says Russia made minor advances in Ukraine after its shift to Donbas
Russia has made minor advances in some areas since shifting its focus to fully occupying the eastern Donbas region, the UK's Ministry of Defence has tweeted.
"Without sufficient logistical and combat support enablers in place, Russia has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough," it said.
Ukraine's defence of the southern city of Mariupol has also exhausted many Russian units and reduced their combat effectiveness, British military intelligence said.
6:41am: US aid to Ukraine and neighbours, diplomatic presence in Kyiv
During their visit to Kyiv on Sunday – the highest-level US visit since the Russian invasion on February 24 – Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his advisers that the US would provide more than $300 million in foreign military financing and had approved a $165 million sale of ammunition.
Money will also go to Ukraine's regional allies who need to resupply after sending weapons to their neighbour.
They also said US President Joe Biden would soon announce his nominee for ambassador to Ukraine and that US diplomats who left Ukraine before the war would start returning to the country this coming week. The US embassy in Kyiv will remain closed for the moment.
Blinken said Biden in the coming days planned to nominate the current US ambassador to Slovakia, Bridget Brink, as the new ambassador to Kyiv, a post that has been officially empty since 2019.
Though several European countries have already reopened their embassies in Kyiv, the return will be gradual for American diplomats, according to a State Department official.
"Since the start of hostilities, we've had a team across the border in Poland who's been handling this work for us," the official told reporters waiting for Blinken and Austin on the Polish side of the border.
"Starting this week, members of that team will be able to do day trips instead into Ukraine," he said. "Ultimately, (they will) resume presence in Kyiv."
April 25, 12:24am: Zelensky congratulates France’s Macron on reelection
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election, saying the French president was a “true friend”.
“Congratulations to the President and a true friend @EmmanuelMacron on the election victory,” Zelensky wrote in French on his Twitter account in the early hours on Monday.
“I wish Emmanuel Macron new successes for the benefit of the French people. I appreciate the support of France and I am convinced: We are stepping together to new common victories! To a strong and united Europe!”
