Thank you for following our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
This blog has now closed. You can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war in our new live blog in the link below.
Summary
It is 8am in Ukraine. Here is a comprehensive run-down of everything you might have missed:
- A third United Nations operation is under way to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. “A convoy is proceeding to get to Azovstal by tomorrow morning hopefully to receive those civilians remaining in that bleak hell ... and take them back to safety,” the UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, said. The mayor of Mariupol estimates around 200 civilians remain sheltering in underground tunnels.
- The UN secretary general, António Guterres, described the war zone in Mariupol as appearing to be “hellscapes”. The UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross have so far helped nearly 500 civilians flee the steel plant area in the southern port city during two operations in the past week.
- A Ukrainian commander said “heavy, bloody fighting” continues at Azovstal and Russia violated its promise of a ceasefire, preventing the evacuation of civilians. Svyatoslav Palamar, a commander of the Azov regiment that is defending the site, said in a video on Telegram: “Russians violated the promise of a truce and did not allow the evacuation of civilians who continue to hide from shelling in the basement of the plant.” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also said Russian shelling and assault of Azovstal “do not stop” in his latest address.
- The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, demanded that Ukraine order its fighters holed up in Azovstal to surrender, the Kremlin said. In a call with Israel’s prime minister, Naftali Bennett, Putin claimed Russia was still ready to provide safe passage for civilians from the plant, according to the Kremlin.
- The US says it shared intelligence with Ukraine about the location of the Russian missile cruiser Moskva prior to the strike that sank the warship, but the decision to attack was taken by the Ukrainians. US officials also reportedly confirmed they are providing intelligence that has helped Ukrainian forces target and kill many of the Russian generals.
- German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock will visit Ukraine shortly amid reports Zelenskiy has also invited the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to visit him in Kyiv.
- The UK government has placed sanctions on Evraz, the multinational steelmaker part-owned by the billionaire Roman Abramovich. The company was formerly counted among Britain’s biggest companies. The Foreign Office said on Thursday that the action would “further chip away at Putin’s financial reserves and siege economy, and support Ukraine’s continued resistance”.
-
The European Union plans to impose sanctions on Alina Kabaeva, long rumoured to be Vladimir Putin’s girlfriend, and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church. Two sources said the EU has proposed sanctions on Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast whose appearance on a draft sanctions list was first reported by Bloomberg.
- EU countries are “almost there” in agreeing the bloc’s proposed new package of sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday.
-
Naftali Bennett said Vladimir Putin had apologised for the Russian foreign minister’s claims that Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins. The Israeli prime minister, after a call with Putin, said he had accepted the apology and thanked the president for clarifying his position.
- Putin hopes to claim Mariupol as key prop in Victory Day celebrations, according to Ukrainian intelligence. “Mariupol, according to [Russia’s] plans, should become the centre of celebrations,” Ukraine’s defence intelligence agency said. “A large-scale propaganda campaign continues, during which Russians will be shown stories about the ‘joy’ of local residents from meeting with the invaders.”
- British prime minister Boris Johnson lauded Ukraine’s president Zelenskiy as “truly one of the most incredible leaders of modern times” during a fundraising event in London. Johnson said the UK will “continue to intensify” efforts to assist Ukraine for as long as the help is needed and insisted Russian president Vladimir Putin will “never break” the spirit of the Ukrainian people, Downing Street said.
-
Poland and the Baltic states have inaugurated a new gas pipeline that links the north-eastern EU with the rest of the bloc, a crucial step towards reducing dependence on Russian gas. The 508 km-long (316-mile) pipeline linking Poland and Lithuania’s gas networks will eventually be able to transport around two billion cubic meters of gas per year in either direction.
- A $300 million yacht belonging to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov has been seized by Fijian authorities at the request of the United States Department of Justice.
- A court in Spain ordered the provisional release of Anatoly Shariy, a Ukrainian politician and blogger who was arrested after being accused of treason in Ukraine. Shariy was arrested on Wednesday near the coastal city of Tarragona under an international arrest warrant issued by Ukraine, according to Spain’s National Court and as reported by the Associated Press.
