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Ukraine’s armed forces has released its latest update on operations over the last day.
“The main efforts of the enemy are focused on the regrouping and strengthening of troops, continuing the partial blockade of the city of Kharkiv and its shelling with artillery,” it said.
The Ukrainian armed forces said it repelled 10 enemy attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk territories in the last 24 hours, destroying three tanks, an armoured personnel carrier, two cars and three artillery systems. It said one Russian armoured personnel carrier was also captured.
It warned of an increased threat of missile strikes on Ukrainian defence and logistical infrastructure from Russian warships in the Black Sea armed with missiles.
“In the waters of the Sea of Azov, the enemy’s naval group continues to carry out tasks to block the port of Mariupol and provide fire support in the coastal direction,” it said.
The Armed Forces briefing reported “no significant changes” in the situation at Severodonetsk, where yesterday the head of its Civil Military Administration Oleksandr Striuk had reported heavy fire and the destruction of about 70% of the city. Only around 20,000 residents of the total 135,000 remain in the city, he said.
According to the Armed Forces statement on Saturday, shared on official Telegram channels, Russian activity has been most concentrated in the direction of Slobozhansky and Donetsk.
The briefing reported continued fighting in Slobozhansky, including Russian ground troops, airborne troops, and coastal troops of the Baltic and Northern fleets.
In Donetsk Russian forces were attempting to take control of the Luhansk settlements of Popasna - where the report said Ukrainian forces had been under constant fire, and Rubizhne, as well as to establish full control over Mariupol, it said. There was continued shelling “in most directions”.
Up to 22 battalions were at Izyum city, it said, noting the deployment of additional units. Izyum, a city on the Donetsk river and gateway to the Donbas, was the site of heavy fighting during the invasion, and the briefing flagged the possibility of intensified fighting there and in Barvinkove as Russia pushed towards Slovyansk. IT also warned of intensified hostilities in Avdiivka, about 130km north of Mariupol.
“The enemy is expected to continue fighting to reach the administrative borders of Kherson region and will try to resume the offensive,” it said.
AFP: Thousands of faithful attended the “Way of the Cross” prayer service, presided over by Pope Francis at Rome’s Colosseum on Friday, a ceremony overtaken by the war in Ukraine.
It was the first time the traditional event on Good Friday, which marks the day Jesus Christ died on the cross in the Christian calendar, was held at the Roman monument since 2019, due to the Covid pandemic.
The pope, who has repeatedly condemned the conflict in Ukraine, and has called for an Easter ceasefire, prayed that the “adversaries shake hands” and “taste mutual forgiveness”.
“Disarm the raised hand of brother against brother,” he said.
Among the families who were entrusted with carrying the crucifix at each of the 14 stations of the cross were two women, one Russian and one Ukrainian, who are life-long friends.
The women carried the cross during one portion of the Way of the Cross, the traditional procession that commemorates the 14 stations of Jesus’ suffering and death, from his condemnation to his burial.
But the Vatican’s initiative, intended as a gesture of reconciliation in the face of the war that began February 24, was not well received by Ukrainian officials.
On Tuesday, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Bishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, denounced an “inappropriate, premature and ambiguous idea, which does not take into account the context of Russia’s military aggression”.
For his part, the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See said he “shared the general concern”.
In a sign of the sensitivity of the issue, the Ukrainian media boycotted the broadcast of the ceremony, while the Vatican had added commentary in Ukrainian and Russian for the broadcast.
In the crowd at the event, Anastasia Goncharova, an 18-year-old tourist from Kyiv, said “I don’t think it’s a really good idea because we are no longer brother nations. They are killing our children, they are raping our children, stealing our house. It’s disgusting”
In the end the two Russian and Ukrainian friends did carry the crucifix together. A contemplative silence replaced an original text for the occasion, which was intended to deal more specifically with the war in Ukraine.
Most of those attending welcomed the Vatican’s Russia-Ukraine initiative.
“It is the cross, and therefore the pain of these two peoples, but also hope, because we believe that after the war there will be peace. It is very beautiful,” said Bethouart.
More air raid sirens across Ukraine reported in the last hour, in the capital Kyiv, as well as in the central and western regions of the country including Rivne, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr.
The Associated Press fact-checking unit has assessed some videos flying around purporting to be the destruction of the Moskva. Upshot: they’re not.
The clips, which some have claimed shows missiles striking the Russian warship, is actually 2013 footage of a Norwegian Navy test missile strike.
Following the destruction of the Moskva - which Ukraine claims they hit with anti-ship missiles but Russia says was a victim of bad weather and an on-board fire - social media users shared images and videos out of context to claim they showed the aftermath of an attack.
One such widely-shared video showed a large warship exploding, sending a plume of thick, dark smoke into the air.
A Twitter user shared it on Thursday, calling it “a video of the explosion of a Russian cruiser after being hit by a Ukrainian missile,” another post claimed the footage was from “yesterday in Ukraine.”
However, the footage was actually taken about nine years ago off the coast of Norway, and shows a Naval Strike Missile being tested on a decommissioned Norwegian ship during a military exercise, according to reports at the time from military.com, the British news agency South West News Service and others, which all used the same footage.
CNN also aired a June 2013 report about the exercise, using the footage and crediting it to the Norwegian navy.
A reverse image search using frames from the clip shows that the same video has been circulating online for years, predating the current war between Russia and Ukraine.
In the last hour, air raid sirens have gone off across multiple cities in central, eastern, and southern Ukraine, including: Dnipropetrovsk, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy, Donetsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, Poltava and Mykolaiv, according to official Ukrainian Telegram channels.
US confirms Ukrainian missiles sunk the Moskva - reports
US media is reporting senior US defence officials confirming the Russian warship, Moskva, was destroyed by Ukrainian missile strikes.
The Moskva was destroyed in the black Sea earlier this week. Ukraine says it hit the ship with two Neptune anti-ship missiles, and is bracing for revenge attacks. Russia’s defence ministry said a fire onboard and “stormy sea conditions” were to blame (although Russian state TV presenters are not unanimously toeing that line). On Friday senior US defence officials confirmed Ukraine’s version of events, according to the Washington Post and New York Times.
In the CNN interview Zelenskiy was also asked about the Moskva, but was circumspect in his response.
“We know that it does not exist anymore. For us it is a strong weapon against our country so its sinking is not a tragedy for us,” Zelenskiy said.
He said “history will tell” what happened to it.
There is very little information about the fate of the 510 personnel on board the Moskva, a significant and well known flagship of Russia’s fleet. Moscow has given not details or released photos.
The Guardian’s Luke Harding in Kyiv and Andrew Roth reported yesterday:
An article published by the Tass state-run news agency initially claimed the “entire crew” had been evacuated. It was later edited to remove the word “entire”. One unconfirmed Ukrainian report said 14 sailors including the chief of Moskva’s medical service were taken to the Crimean port of Sevastopol. The fate of the other 494 was unknown, it said. If they are confirmed to have drowned it would amount to the largest number of deaths of Russian servicemen in a single incident since the second world war.
Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser who has a popular Telegram channel, posted a photo of the Moskva’s captain, Anton Kuprin. Kuprin was killed during the explosion and fire on the ship, Gerashchenko claimed.
It was Kuprin who gave the order for the Moskva to shell Snake Island in the Black Sea during the first hours of Moscow’s invasion. Its Ukrainian defenders refused to surrender and said: “Russian warship ‘go fuck yourself’” – a slogan that has become a national meme.
Updated
Zelenskiy has spoken to CNN, saying the world should be prepared for the possibility that Russia decides to use nuclear or chemical weapons against Ukraine.
He said the Russians could do it because Putin did not value the lives of the people.
“We should think not be afraid, not be afraid but be ready. But that is not a question for Ukraine, not only for Ukraine but for all the world, I think,” he said.
US officials have warned of the potential for Putin to use nuclear weapons in the conflict.
“Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons,” CIA Director Bill Burn said on Thursday.
Zelenskiy also said his information was that about 2,500-3,000 Ukrainian military personnel had been killed, and Russia’s military had lost about 19,000-20,000. He said about 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers were injured, some seriously.
Updated
Ukraine PM to visit Washington - report
Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmyhal and top finance officials will visit Washington next week, according to a Reuters report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.
The delegation, also including finance minister Serhiy Marchenko, and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko, will be there at the same time as the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, it said.
Shmyhal, Marchenko and Shevchenko are expected to have bilateral meetings with finance officials from Group of Seven countries and others, the report said, and would take part in a World Bank-hosted roundtable on the Ukraine conflict on Thursday.
The event will be the first chance for key Ukrainian officials to meet in person with a host of financial officials from advanced economies since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
Thursday’s meeting will be more of a roundtable than a donors conference, although both the IMF and World Bank have set up separate accounts to be able to process and relay donations, and additional pledges are expected to be announced next week.
It will give officials a chance to discuss the physical devastation and economic consequences of the war, as well as the continued functioning of Ukraine’s banking and financial sector.
“Without support now, there will be no reconstruction in the future,” one of the sources said.
The World Bank had no immediate comment on the event.
Updated
Germany to give a billion Euros in military aid
Hello, this is Helen Davidson to take you through the next few hours of developments.
The German government says it plans to release more than a billion euros in military aid for Ukraine.
On Friday the country’s finance minister, Christian Lindner, confirmed the government had decided to increase its international aid in the defence sector to €2bn, with the largest portion going to Ukraine as military aid. The funds must mainly be used by Ukraine for military equipment purchases, the Associated Press reported.
Die Medienberichte sind zutreffend: Im #Ergänzungshaushalt wird die militärische #Ertüchtigungshilfe auf 2 Milliarden Euro angehoben. Die Mittel kommen weit überwiegend der #Ukraine zugute. Der @Bundeskanzler hatte dies frühzeitig angefordert. CL
— Christian Lindner (@c_lindner) April 15, 2022
It follows pressure from Ukraine - where president Zelenskiy again today pushed for more weapons from supportive states - and criticism from other EU governments for Germany’s apparent lack of weapons support to Kyiv.
Diplomatic feathers were ruffled earlier in the week after Kyiv rejected a proposed visit by Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a former foreign minister who recently acknowledged “errors” in a too conciliatory stance toward Moscow in the past, the AP reported.
The Ukrainian presidency instead said it wanted to welcome Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Kyiv, but the chancellor indicated he had no plans to visit anytime soon, despite coming under pressure from Ukrainian and opposition figures to follow in the footsteps of several other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
Updated
Catch up
- The captain of the Russian warship Moskva was killed during the attack that sank it, Ukraine claimed. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Kyiv’s ministry of internal affairs, said Anton Kuprin died during an explosion and fire onboard the ship.
- Ukraine is now bracing for revenge attacks for its hand in sinking the Moskva. Western intelligence corroborates Ukraine’s account that two of its missiles sunk the warship, though Russia has provided an alternative explanation. Russian strikes targeted the factory near Kyiv where the Ukrainian missiles used to sink the flagship are made.
- More than 900 civilian bodies have been discovered in the region surrounding Kyiv after the withdrawal of Russian forces, local police said. Almost all of them were shot dead, indicating execution during the Russian occupation, it was claimed. Their number was far greater than previously thought. In Kharkiv, officials also said that 10 people, including baby were killed and 35 wounded following Russian air strikes.
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, recently made a direct appeal to his US counterpart, Joe Biden, for Washington to designate Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism. The Washington Post first reported the news. It would be a rare and radical sanction. But Zelenskiy has been firm in putting pressure on the west to assist in Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion.
- In his latest address, Zelenskiy once again pushed for more weapons, and more sanctions - so the war could end sooner. Zelenskiy also spoke about a return to “normal life” in some parts of the country - or efforts to regain normality amid the tragedy. In parts of Ukraine, Zelenskiy noted that four-fifths of Ukranian enterprises have returned to work in safe areas.
- Sweden and Finland said they were deliberating Nato membership. Tytti Tuppurainen, Finland’s minister for European affairs, said: “The people of Finland seem to have already made up their mind”. She added the decision was “highly likely” but “not made yet” pending discussions in parliament.
- Outgunned, outnumbered and surrounded by Russian forces, one of Europe’s biggest metallurgical plants has become Mariupol’s redoubt. The factory is “an enormous space” in which the Russians “simply can’t find” Ukrainian forces, Oleh Zhdanov – a military analyst based in Kyiv – told Reuters.
- Russia threatened to intensify its attacks on Kyiv if Ukrainian forces carry out any operations on Russian territory. A spokesperson for Moscow’s defence ministry said: “The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any attacks of a terrorist nature or sabotage on Russian territory.”
- Russia designated journalist and Youtuber Yury Dud and political analyst Ekaterina Schulmann as “foreign agents” today, a continuation of Russia’s crackdown on those critical of the Russian government within the country. Dud and Schulmann have both been publicly critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
– Maanvi Singh, Gloria Oladipo, Kevin Rawlinson
In his latest address, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy once again pushed for more weapons, and more sanctions – so the war could end sooner.
He said:
If someone says: year or years, I answer: you can make the war much shorter. The more and the sooner we get all the weapons we have requested, the stronger our position will be and the sooner peace will come. The more and the sooner we get the financial support we have requested, the sooner there will be peace. The sooner the democratic world recognizes that the oil embargo against Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace, the sooner the war will end.
So the number one task is to speed up the restoration of peace.
Zelenskiy also spoke about a return to “normal life” in some parts of the country – or efforts to regain normality amid the tragedy.
The restoration of normal life in those areas and districts where the occupiers were expelled continues. The amount of work is really huge. 918 settlements of different scales, but equally important for us, for Ukraine, have already been de-occupied.
We carry out demining. We restore the supply of electricity, water and gas. We restore the work of the police, post office, state and local authorities.
Humanitarian headquarters have started working on the territory of 338 liberated settlements. We are resuming the provision of regular and emergency medical care, the work of educational institutions - where it is really possible. In total, on this day, Russian troops have destroyed or damaged 1,018 educational institutions across our country.
Restoration of roads and railways has begun. In particular, from tomorrow the railway connection with Chernihiv and Nizhyn will be restored. Trains are already running between the cities of the Sumy region.
The teams of Ukravtodor and Ukrzaliznytsia work quite efficiently, and I am grateful to them for this speed. For giving people back a sense of normal life, which the occupiers tried to destroy forever.
In parts of Ukraine, Zelenskiy noted that four-fifths of Ukranian enterprises have returned to work in safe areas.
Transport networks are being rebuilt. Good performance is shown in trade and services. And all this is also the fulfillment of the national task of accelerating the restoration of peace.
That is why I am grateful to everyone who keeps jobs, who employs our people, who helps businesses adapt to these difficult conditions and gives Ukraine the necessary economic strength to live.
No matter what, in all cities and communities where there are no occupiers and hostilities, it is necessary to restore the economy to the maximum.
And finally. The important words that hope always wins even under seemingly insurmountable circumstances.
This Saturday, the Jewish community celebrates Passover. Holiday of liberation. Holiday of life. I sincerely wish all those who celebrate in Ukraine and in the world peace, good and the inevitable defeat of any evil that threatens freedom and life on earth.
Updated
The death toll in Kharkiv is up to 10, according to Nexta:
‼️The number of victims in the shelling of the Industrial district of #Kharkiv increased to 10 people, injured - up to 35, according to the prosecutor's office of the Kharkiv region.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 15, 2022
The agency also confirmed that one of the dead is a seven-month-old baby.
According to Kharkiv region governor Oleh Synehubov, there has not been a single day without air strikes since the Russian invasion began.
Updated
A mass grave in Bucha, the aftermath of the Russian attack on the station in Kramatorsk, young Ukrainian refugees in Tijuana and the shelling of Kharkiv: here photographs from the seventh week of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Please take care: readers may find some of these images distressing.
Updated
If the US designates Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy has reportedly requested, it would be a rare and radical sanction.
But Zelenskiy has been firm in putting pressure on the west to assist in Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion, and this is no exception as his country endures atrocities from its northern neighbor.
He asked the US president in a recent phone call, but the question has not previously been reported, the Post adds, citing unnamed sources, who apparently indicated that “Biden did not commit to specific actions during the call.”
The Washington Post reports that “even during the cold war, Washington refrained from designating the Soviet Union in this manner despite Moscow’s support for groups considered terrorist actors throughout the 1970s and 1980s.”
Justification for the designation would have to be arrived at by secretary of state Antony Blinken.
The designation is normally applied to nations that “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism”, according to a State Department fact sheet cited by the Post, which adds that there are four countries on the department’s list right now: North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Syria.
Updated
While Russia has not provided many details on what exactly happened to the Moskva, a crowd in Crimea gathered to mourn the ship’s demise.
From Reuters:
Dozens of people gathered in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Friday to mourn the sinking of the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, a symbol, the crowd heard, of hope, revival and power until its demise.
Some embraced and others laid flowers in memory of the Moskva missile cruiser at a monument to the 1696 foundation of the Russian navy in the centre of Sevastopol, headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.
Moscow, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, said the ship sank while being towed in stormy seas after a fire caused by an ammunition explosion.
Ukraine said one of its missiles had caused it to sink.
“Even for those who have not been on it, the Moskva was a symbol for everyone, a symbol of our power, of our hope, of the revival of the fleet in the 1990s” following the collapse of the Soviet Union, said Reserve Captain Sergei Gorbachev, who spoke to the crowd in his naval uniform.
“There will be victories, there will be tragedies, but the memory remains,” Gorbachev said.
The crowd, which included a number of people who served on the ship, stood in respectful silence. Some wore the ribbon of St. George, a symbol of the Russian military.
“The loss of every ship, especially a flagship, is a tragedy for all those tens of thousands of people who served there for over 20 years,” said priest Georgiy Ployakov.
Russia sent tens of thousands of soldiers into Ukraine on Feb 24 on what it calls a “special operation”.
Updated
Air strike sirens are reportedly sounding off in Kyiv, according to online reports.
From the Guardian’s Luke Harding:
Air raid sirens over #Kyiv now
— Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968) April 15, 2022
Ambassadors from several countries are coming back to Kyiv after evacuating amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Italy’s ambassador to Ukraine will return to Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv, with plans to resume working on 18 April.
France also announced today that their embassy will reopen shortly, with plans to move the embassy back to Kyiv, after the embassy was temporarily relocated to Lviv.
From the Kyiv Independent:
⚡️ Italian ambassador comes back to Kyiv after evacuation, aims to resume work on April 18.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 15, 2022
The French ambassador also announced on April 15 that his embassy would reopen in Kyiv shortly, after being relocated for a month to Lviv.
Russia blocked the websites of Radio France Internationale and the Russian-language service of The Moscow Times in an ongoing crackdown against independent media, reported Reuters.
⚠️Confirmed: Russia's crackdown on news websites continues, with metrics showing the restriction of RFI (Radio France Internationale) and the Moscow Times Russian edition upon requests from the Prosecutor General's Office to Roskomnadzor.
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) April 15, 2022
📰 Background: https://t.co/PzFZ662LyN pic.twitter.com/2Pl0TEy6PD
The English-language website for the Moscow Times has not been affected, confirmed Moscow Times in a statement. The news organization said the move to block its website by Russian officials was because of a story it published on the conflict in Ukraine.
Radio France Internationale said it had not been provided with an explanation on why the website was blocked in Russia.
A stamp featuring the Russian warship Moskva that sank is now a collector’s item, reports AFP.
A stamp depicting a Ukrainian soldier making an obscene hand gesture at the Russian Black Sea flagship Moskva has become a collector’s item for Ukrainians who see it as a sign of “victory”.
At the central post office in the capital Kyiv, hundreds of Ukrainians of every age could be seen queueing for hours on Friday to get their hands on one of the one million copies printed so far.
“That ship was the biggest one they had.... They gambled a lot on it and we destroyed it!” said Yury Kolesan, 22, who waited for two-and-a-half hours to get a set of 30 stamps.
“It’s a new phase of the war, one of victory!”
The warship sank on Thursday after an explosion and fire that Ukraine claimed was caused by a missile strike - while Russia said the damage was caused by an explosion of munitions on board.
The missile cruiser gained notoriety in the early stages of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when its crew called on a unit of Ukrainian border guards to surrender, only for them to defiantly refuse.
The incident quickly became a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s assault.
Ukraine’s postal service last month launched a competition to illustrate the episode.
Out of more than 500 submissions, Lviv designer Boris Groh’s winning entry shows a Ukrainian soldier from behind swearing at the warship.
It has proved a hit, selling out in many post offices and quickly appearing for resale online.
“We wanted to print more but the bombing last night in Kyiv affected the work of the factory and we did not manage to print the necessary quantity,” Ukrainian postal service Igor Smelyansky told AFP.
Updated
Russian officials have provided few details about the Moskva ship that was sunk by Ukraine missiles, but created a memorial for the ship’s sinking.
From the Guardian’s Andrew Roth:
Still no official report of how many died aboard the Moskva cruiser. No photographs of the ship or the 510 member crew, more than 24 hours after they were supposedly rescued. Just a wreath at a memorial in Sevastopol to the “ship and sailors.” https://t.co/X2OZLHMLHR
— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) April 15, 2022
Russia designated journalist and Youtuber Yury Dud and political analyst Ekaterina Schulmann as “foreign agents” today, a continuation of Russia’s crackdown on those critical of the Russian government within the country.
⚡️Journalist Yury Dud and political analyst Ekaterina Shulman were recognized in #Russia as "foreign agents". pic.twitter.com/ebxZtuJWxd
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 15, 2022
Wow. Even @yurydud & @eschulmann are enemies of the people now in Russia. Crazy. https://t.co/uPqFV39REg
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) April 15, 2022
Dud and Schulmann have both been publicly critical of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
Here is on possible retaliation Ukraine might face after the Moskva ship sinking from the Guardian’s Luke Harding and Andrew Roth:
Ukraine has said it is bracing itself for revenge attacks from Russia after the “significant and symbolic” sinking of Russia’s flagship cruiser, the Moskva.
The government in Kyiv said it had destroyed the giant missile cruiser during a combat operation against Russian vessels in the Black Sea on Wednesday. The boat’s ammunition deck exploded after it was hit by two Neptune anti-ship missiles, it added.
According to Lithuania’s foreign minister, Arvydas Anušauskas, the cruiser sent out a distress call. By 1.14am local time (2314 BST) on Thursday the Moskva was lying on its side and about half an hour later “all the electricity went out,” he posted on Facebook.
From 2am a Turkish ship managed to rescue 54 sailors. An hour later Turkey and Romania confirmed the ship had “completely sunk”. Ukrainian officials said stormy weather stopped Russian boats from carrying out an evacuation, adding: “Nature was on our side.”
The Kremlin has not given any details on possible casualties among the 510 crew of the Moskva, and has not released any photographs of the stricken ship.
Read the full article here.
Seven people were killed today after Russian shelling hit a residential area, reports Reuters.
The regional governor of Kharkiv said today that seven people, including a small child, were killed and 34 wounded following Russian air strikes.
From Nexta:
Head of #Kharkiv military administration: as a result of shelling of Kharkiv residential area 7 people were killed, including a seven-month-old baby.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 15, 2022
Another 34 people were wounded, including three children. pic.twitter.com/uiKfGBJnVI
Russia describes its invasion of Ukraine as a “special operation” and has denied targeting civilian areas.
Russian missile strikes have hit a military factory near Kyiv that makes the missiles Ukraine claims it used to sink the Moskva naval flagship, reported AFP.
A workshop and an administrative building at the Vizar plant, which is near Kyiv’s international Zhuliany airport, were seriously damaged because of Russia’s strikes, an AFP journalist saw.
Earlier, Russia had announced it used Kalibr sea-based long-range missiles to hit the factory, which Ukraine’s state weapons manufacturer Ukroboronprom says produced Neptune missiles.
“There were five hits. My employee was in the office and got thrown off his feet by the blast,” said Andrei Sizov, a 47-year-old owner of a nearby wood workshop
“They are making us pay for destroying the Moskva,” he said. It was the first major Russian strike around the Ukrainian capital in over two weeks.
The Kyiv regional governor said there were at least two other Russian strikes today, but did not provide details on the damage sustained or any casualties.
Updated
Catch up
Here’s a summary of the day’s events so far:
- The captain of the Russian warship Moskva was killed during the attack that sank it, Ukraine claimed. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Kyiv’s ministry of internal affairs, said Anton Kuprin died during an explosion and fire onboard the ship.
- More than 900 civilian bodies have been discovered in the region surrounding Kyiv after the withdrawal of Russian forces, local police said. Almost all of them were shot dead, indicating execution during the Russian occupation, it was claimed. Their number was far greater than previously thought.
- Sweden and Finland said they were deliberating Nato membership. Tytti Tuppurainen, Finland’s minister for European affairs, said: “The people of Finland seem to have already made up their mind”. She added the decision was “highly likely” but “not made yet” pending discussions in parliament.
- Outgunned, outnumbered and surrounded by Russian forces, one of Europe’s biggest metallurgical plants has become Mariupol’s redoubt. The factory is “an enormous space” in which the Russians “simply can’t find” Ukrainian forces, Oleh Zhdanov – a military analyst based in Kyiv – told Reuters.
- Russia threatened to intensify its attacks on Kyiv if Ukrainian forces carry out any operations on Russian territory. A spokesperson for Moscow’s defence ministry said: “The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any attacks of a terrorist nature or sabotage on Russian territory.”
I’m now handing over to my colleague Gloria Oladipo.
Updated
France will make housing and family benefits available to Ukrainian refugees, reports Reuters.
France will make housing and family benefits available for Ukrainian refugees once the emergency lodging phase is over, the country’s interior ministry said on Friday.
France will give displaced Ukrainians the right to access aid for personal housing with family supplements, as well as benefits for family maintenance, it said in a statement.
According to the ministry, more than 57,000 Ukrainians have entered France since Russia invaded their country on 24 February, largely women and children, and more than 41,000 have been granted “temporary protection”.
It said that over 11,000 Ukrainian children have so far enrolled in French schools, and that families could place younger children in day-care centres free of charge.
Over 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine overall since the start of the war, according to the United Nations refugee agency, with more than half crossing into Poland.
Updated
Five people have been killed by shelling in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, with cluster munitions used, the local governor Vitaliy Kim has said.
The Reuters news agency has said it could not independently verify the statement. Despite many civilians deaths in Ukraine, Russia has denied deliberately targeting non-combatants.
Updated
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, recently made a direct appeal to his US counterpart, Joe Biden, for Washington to designate Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism”, it is reported.
Citing people familiar with the two leaders’ conversation, the Washington Post says Biden did not commit to specific actions during the call.
The label can be applied to any country that has “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism,” the newspaper says, citing a US Department of State factsheet. The list currently includes four countries: North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Syria.
Updated
Kyiv officials claim to have found bodies of hundreds of murdered civilians
More than 900 civilian bodies have been discovered in the region surrounding Kyiv following the withdrawal of Russian forces — almost all of them shot dead, the Associated Press quotes local police as saying.
The number is double that announced by Ukrainian authorities almost two weeks ago and the presence of the gunshot wounds indicates many were “simply executed”, officers said.
Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv’s regional police force, said the bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% died from gunshot wounds, AP reports.
Consequently, we understand that under the [Russian] occupation, people were simply executed in the streets.
More bodies are being found every day, under rubble and in mass graves, he added.
The largest number of victims were found in Bucha; where there were more than 350.
According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha gathered and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, were “tracking down” people who expressed strong pro-Ukraine views.
Updated
France will make housing and family benefits available for Ukrainian refugees once the emergency lodging phase is over, Reuters quotes the country’s interior ministry as saying.
Paris will give displaced Ukrainians the right to access aid for personal housing with family supplements, as well as benefits for family maintenance.
According to the ministry, more than 57,000 Ukrainians have entered France since Russia invaded their country on 24 February, largely women and children, and more than 41,000 have been granted “temporary protection”.
It said that more than 11,000 Ukrainian children have so far enrolled in French schools, and that families could place younger children in daycare centres free of charge.
More than 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine overall since the start of the war, according to the United Nations refugee agency, with more than half crossing into Poland.
Updated
The United States believes the sunken Russian missile cruiser Moskva was hit by two Ukrainian missiles, Reuters reports, citing a senior US official.
The official, who Reuters says spoke on condition of anonymity, said these were Neptune anti-ship missiles. The US believes there were Russian casualties, though numbers are unclear, the official told the news agency.
Citing Moscow’s defence ministry, Russian news outlets have said the missile cruiser sank in stormy seas after a fire and explosions involving ammunition stowed onboard. Ukraine has said it launched a missile strike on the Moskva from the coast, which ripped open the Soviet-era ship.
Reuters says it has been unable to verify either side’s assertions.
Updated
Back to that news that Russia has expelled 18 EU diplomats, Moscow’s foreign ministry has said it summoned the EU ambassador Markus Ederer and handed him a note of protest. It said:
The Russian side declared that the EU is responsible for the consistent destruction of the architecture of bilateral dialogue and cooperation that had taken decades to form.
The EU diplomats must leave Russia as soon as possible, Reuters quotes the ministry as saying. The EU mission has said it regrets what it calls an unfounded move.
The decision of the Russian authorities announced on Friday has no grounds and is nothing else than a retaliatory step. Russia’s chosen course of action will further increase its international isolation.
The world should be prepared for the possibility Putin will use nuclear weapons, Ukraine’s president has warned.
Speaking to CNN, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin would be capable of deploying nuclear weapons because he does not value human life. Asked if he was worried, following warnings from the CIA, Zelenskiy said:
Not only me, I think all of the world, all the countries have to be worried, because you know that it can be not real information but it can be the truth. They could do it … they can ... for them, lives of the people are nothing.
Updated
Ukraine has evacuated 2,864 people from conflict areas on Friday, its deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said. Reuters reports that the total includes 363 people who used their own modes of transport to escape from Mariupol.
She said on Telegram that the evacuees also included 370 people from Luhansk region in the east and 2,131 people from cities in Zaporizhzhia region.
Updated
Russia’s foreign ministry has ordered 18 European Union diplomats to leave the country, Reuters reports.
The news agency says the retaliatory move comes after the EU declared 19 Russian diplomats personae non gratae for “engaging in activities contrary to their diplomatic status” and ordered them to leave their host nation, Belgium.
Updated
Captain of sunken warship killed in explosion, says Ukraine
We’ve been reporting today that Russia’s Moskva warship sunk while being towed to a port after an explosion.
Now, Ukraine claims Moskva’s captain was also killed in that explosion.
In a statement on Telegram, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s ministry of internal affairs, said:
1st rank captain, cruiser Moskva flagship commander of the Black sea Fleet, Anton Kuprin died during the explosion and fire on board.”
While Ukraine said its military successfully struck the flagship missile on Wednesday, Russia’s defence ministry said a fire onboard and “stormy sea conditions” were to blame.
Updated
Motuzyanyk has added that street battles are continuing in Mariupol, which Russian forces have still not managed to completely capture. He said active fighting is taking place around Mariupol’s Illich steel and ironworks, as well as in the port area.
Updated
Russia has used long-range bombers to attack the besieged port city of Mariupol for the first time since the invasion, Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk has said.
Reuters quotes him as saying Russia is concentrating its efforts on seizing the cities of Rubizhne, Popasna and Mariupol.
Earlier, we reported that an iron and steelworks plant in Mariupol has become the city’s redoubt.
Now, Reuters is reporting that Ukraine’s leading steelmaker and controller of the plant, Metinvest, has said it will never operate its enterprises under Russian occupation.
The group told the news agency it has already halved its iron ore production due to the Russian invasion.
Ukraine is one of Europe’s largest suppliers of iron ore, and has already lost access to up to 40% of its metallurgy production capacity in Mariupol.
Updated
Today so far
It’s approaching 4pm in Ukraine. Here’s a summary of the latest developments:
-
Outgunned, outnumbered and surrounded by Russian forces, one of Europe’s biggest metallurgical plants has become Mariupol’s redoubt. The factory is “an enormous space” in which the Russians “simply can’t find” Ukrainian forces, Oleh Zhdanov – a military analyst based in Kyiv – told Reuters.
- The family of a British man allegedly captured by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine have described footage of him in captivity as “propaganda”. Images on Russian television appeared to show Aiden Aslin, 28, originally from Nottinghamshire, being led around in handcuffs with a cut on his forehead.
- Sweden and Finland are deliberating Nato membership. Tytti Tuppurainen, Finland’s minister for European affairs, said: “The people of Finland seem to have already made up their mind”. She added the decision is “highly likely” but “not made yet” pending discussions in parliament.
- The Moskva, a Russian flagship cruiser, has sunk after a Ukrainian missile strike. The ship had been leading a substantial Russian naval presence in the Black Sea, and is a significant naval loss that experts say is emblematic of the “shambolic Russian military campaign”.
-
Nine humanitarian corridors have been agreed for Friday. Those wanting to evacuate the cities of Mariupol, Berdyansk, Tokmak and Energodar to Zaporozhye are able to do by car, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, announced this morning on the Telegram messaging app.
- Russia has warned missile strikes on Kyiv ‘will increase’, reports state-owned RIA news. It’s the latest line coming out of the Russian defence ministry, after powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv overnight. The Russians claim they have hit 13 military facilities in different areas and system shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter near Chernigov.
Steel plant now a Ukrainian hold-out in Mariupol
In besieged Mariupol – where Ukrainian forces are outgunned, outnumbered and surrounded by Russian forces – one of Europe’s biggest metallurgical plants has become the eastern city’s redoubt.
The Azovstal iron and steelworks lies in an industrial area covering more than 11 sq km (4.25 sq miles). It is held by the country’s leading metallurgical group, Metinvest, and controlled by Ukraine’s richest man; the billionaire Rinat Akhmetov.
The factory is “an enormous space” in which the Russians “simply can’t find” Ukrainian forces, Oleh Zhdanov – a military analyst based in Kyiv – told Reuters.
That’s why they [the Russians] started talking about trying a chemical attack, that’s the only way to smoke them out.
Ukraine has said it is checking unverified information that Russia may have used chemical weapons in Mariupol. Russia-backed separatists have denied using them.
Here’s the full story:
Updated
British diplomats have been scrambling to work out what has happened to Aiden Aslin after it was claimed the UK national was captured by pro-Russian forces. Images purporting to show him in captivity emerged, which his family is calling “propaganda”.
PA Media reports that Aslin, who is from Newark in Nottinghamshire, has been fighting in the besieged city of Mariupol. Earlier this week, he and his unit were forced to surrender after they ran out of food and ammunition. His grandmother Pamela Hall has told PA Media:
It’s propaganda. He was due to get married this month, and they were talking about setting up a new home together, children — great-grandchildren in my case.
Here’s some more details from my colleague Josh Halliday:
Updated
Kyiv was hit on Friday by some of the most powerful explosions heard since Russian forces withdrew from the area two weeks ago.
Amid a warning that missile attacks would increase due to allegations of attacks and sabotage by Ukrainian forces within Russia’s borders, Moscow said it had struck a plant in the capital that made and repaired Ukrainian missiles, including anti-ship missiles. The move follows the sinking of the Russian Black Sea flagship Moskva.
Kirill Kyrylo, 38, a worker at a car repair shop in Kyiv, told Reuters he had seen three blasts hit an industrial building across the street, causing a blaze that was later put out by firefighters.
“The building was on fire and I had to hide behind my car,” he said, pointing out shattered glass and bits of metal that had been flung from the burning building across the street.
Ukraine said it had repelled Russian offensives in the town of Popasna and Rubizhne, north of Mariupol. The reports could not be independently confirmed.
Updated
Here is a selection of some of the latest images that have been sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine and beyond.
Updated
Gaby Hinsliff writes for us today on the sexual exploitation of women in war zones, saying it will continue until commanders actually end up in the dock for overseeing such atrocities:
They read like messages from one of the creepier dating apps, or else the sort of unwanted lechery with which many young women on social media are grimly familiar.
One man suggests sharing “a large bed, we could sleep together” and then letting “what we both want happen”. Another is keen to let the recipient know she is “so beautiful”, while a third immediately asks, “Are you single?”
But these aren’t just any old clumsy sexual overtures. These are messages left for women fleeing war-torn Ukraine, on a Facebook group seeking to match refugees with Britons offering sanctuary. The grotesque parody of shelter some men see fit to offer is a chance to flee the threat of rape by Russian soldiers, but only for somewhere you might want to barricade yourself into the spare bedroom at night.
An undercover reporter posing as a refugee found more than half the messages sent to her came from men living alone, some explicit about the strings attached to their offers. What kind of man, you may wonder, sees in a tragedy a sexual opportunity?
Read more here: Gaby Hinsliff – Rape is being used as a weapon in Ukraine. It should be treated as a war crime
Finland's Europe minister: 'highly likely' Finland will join Nato, application process should be 'quick as possible'
Tytti Tuppurainen is Finland’s minister for European affairs, and she has been interviewed on Sky News in the UK about Finland’s prospect for joining Nato. Speaking from Helsinki, she said there was now a profound change in the relations between Russia and Finland, which saddens her. She told viewers:
The people of Finland seem to have already made up their mind and there is a huge majority for Nato membership of Finland.
Of course, that’s not all. We are a parliamentary democracy so we need to discuss this issue in our parliament. At this point I would say it is highly likely, but a decision is not yet made.
She described Russia’s actions as a “brutal” war in Ukraine and “a wake-up call to us all”. With regard to the hostile rhetoric coming out of Russia at the prospect of Finland and possibly Sweden joining Nato, she said:
Every country has the right to do its own security arrangements. So we have to be very, very careful in order not to limit our own room of manoeuvre because of outside factors. So, whatever Russia is saying, we of course are hearing that, but we are doing our own decisions based on our interests, and on our conditions, our consideration of the overall situation.
Questioned on how quickly Finland could achieve Nato membership, she said “the interim period between the membership application and becoming an actual member can become really nasty. So I think it’s in the best interest of us all that the application process is as quick as possible.”
On the prospect of future Russian expansion westwards, she said:
We’ve seen what Russia is able to do, what Vladimir Putin is able to do. He’s a ruthless dictator, and he wants to peal back the years of the former Soviet Russia, and we cannot allow that to happen. So we have to do what we need to do, as western countries, as defenders of liberal values and liberal democracy, and we have to act united, and we have to isolate Russia.
Updated
Our Emma Graham-Harrison points out that the Ukrainian defence minister is trolling Russia over the sinking of its flagship Moskva — boasting of his plans for a scuba diving trip to its wreckage. Oleksii Reznikov tweeted:
A “flagship” Russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war. BTW, I already have 300 scuba dives.
A "flagship" russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war.
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) April 15, 2022
BTW, I already have 300 scuba dives pic.twitter.com/q2Buc51qeI
Russia warns missile strikes on Kyiv ‘will increase’ after powerful explosions heard overnight
There have been some new lines coming out of the Russian defence ministry which are being reported by the state-owned RIA news agency, after powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv overnight.
The ministry has said it will respond to the actions of Ukrainian forces within Russian territory with an increase in attacks on Kyiv. A spokesperson said:
The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any attacks of a terrorist nature or sabotage on Russian territory.
The Russians claim they have hit 13 military facilities in different areas overnight, and that Russia’s S-400 air defence system shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter near Chernigov. According to Russia’s military, it was a helicopter which carried out an attack yesterday on the village of Klimovo, in Russia’s Bryansk region.
The ministry of defence spokesperson Igor Konashenkov also said that “a group of Russian troops and units of the People’s Militia of the Donetsk Republic completely liberated the Illich Iron and Steel Works from Ukrainian nationalists”.
RIA reports that most of Mariupol has already been brought under control, but clashes continue mainly in the area of the Azovstal plant, where a significant part of the Azov nationalist regiment is continuing to show resistance.
The news agency is also reporting that at least two anti-missiles were fired at air targets over the city of Belgorod on Friday morning. The Russian city is to the north-east of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. There has been no official confirmation of the action, which RIA says was witnessed by its correspondent in the region.
The Guardian has not independently verified any of the claims from the Russian defence ministry or the RIA news agency.
Updated
Spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Lucile Marbeau has been interviewed on Sky News in the UK. Speaking from Dnipro, she said:
The concerns right now is for ICRC to be the close to the people next to the frontline. Currently we have teams in the east working 24 hours to be able to support those who remain in places where there’s ongoing hostilities.
So if you take the city of Donetsk, colleagues are going there on a daily basis in order to evacuate civilians there. Usually those who stay are the most vulnerable. We see it’s elderly people, it’s people who don’t have any money, who don’t know if they leave where to go.
Of those who have fled, she said the ICRC is supporting them with basics like food, but also financial assistance.
On the prospect of a further offensive by Russia in the east of Ukraine, she told viewers:
This is a huge concern for us, because many civilians have already fled these areas. Those who remain behind are the most vulnerable. They need protection. And they, of course, are protected by international humanitarian law. But we need to be able also to assist them.
There’s war-wounded who need specific treatment, but when you’re frontline the basics come to lack. There’s going to be a lack of things as simple as aspirin, antibiotics, in order really to be able to treat not very serious infections. But when already people are weak because they’ve been staying weeks in a shelter, they’re elderly, they’re not getting proper food, of course, these infections can become really serious.
With regard to security issues faced by the ICRC itself, she said:
Our duty is to stay and operate and be as close as possible to the civilians who need our support. Of course we need security guarantees for our staff, and the security guarantee for our staff is actually the security guarantee for the civilians we are assisting, whether we’re bringing to them directly humanitarian aid, or whether we are facilitating safe passage.
So this is our duty, this is our task, and of course we’re going to stay as long as possible in order to be able to just basically save lives and help people.
- This is Martin Belam on the live blog in London now for the next few hours. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
Today so far
Here is where the situation currently stands:
-
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has praised his people’s bravery and resolve on the 50th day of war, calling Russia’s invasion “absurd” and “suicidal” in his latest national address. “We have withstood 50 days already. Fifty days of Russian invasion, although the occupiers gave us a maximum of five,” he said.
-
The Russian flagship cruiser Moskva has sunk in the Black Sea off southern Ukraine, according to Russia’s defence ministry. Ukraine claims it was was hit by Ukrainian weaponry – the Neptune cruise missile, which Ukraine builds itself. Russia maintains that a fire onboard and then “stormy sea conditions” while it was being towed to port were to blame. Russia only has three of this flagship-class of warship, which have crews of almost 500 sailors, and the loss of the Moskva is a big blow. The former CIA director David Petraeus described Russia’s admission as a “rare moment of truth … I’m surprised that they admitted it,” he told the BBC.
- Moskva served a “key role as command vessel and air defence node”, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
- Vladimir Putin may resort to using a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon in light of military setbacks in the invasion of Ukraine, the CIA director, William Burns, has said. During a speech in Atlanta, Burns said: “Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership … none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons.” The Kremlin placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February.
- A total of 6,673 alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are under investigation, Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office has said. 198 children have been confirmed to have been killed, the office added.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said Moscow would take “security and defence measures that we will deem necessary” if Sweden and Finland join Nato. In an interview with the Russian state-owned news agency Tass, the minister said the membership in the military alliance would “seriously worsen the military situation” and lead to “the most undesirable consequences”. Finland and Sweden had earlier taken a major step towards joining Nato.
-
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has appealed to the United Nations to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children who have been “illegally deported” to Russia. In a statement, the ministry said Russia had “engaged in state-organised kidnapping of children and destruction of the future of the Ukrainian nation”.
- France is planning to return its embassy to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. It had moved to the western city of Lviv in March as Russia invaded. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged allies to resume their normal diplomatic presence in Ukraine.
- Zelenskiy further urged European countries to give up Russian oil that provides “blood” money to Moscow, and appealed for more weapons to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion.
- Nine humanitarian corridors have been agreed for Friday, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has announced. A total of 2,557 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Thursday, Vereshchuk confirmed, with 289 of those from Mariupol. The head of the UN World Food Programme, meanwhile, said people were being “starved to death” in the besieged city.
-
Armenia has begun making payments for Russian gas in roubles, minister of economy Vagan Kerobyan told RBC. “We need to move towards national currencies … As far as I know, the last few payments were in roubles, but at the appropriate rate,” RIA cited Kerobyan as saying.
- A Russian legislator and two aides pushed a covert propaganda campaign aimed at winning US government support for Russia’s foreign policy agenda, including moves against Ukraine, according to a Justice Department indictment seen by the Associated Press.
-
French president Emmanuel Macron has pledged to deliver 24 fire trucks and ambulances as well as 50 tons of emergency equipment to Ukraine.
For a more detailed summary, please see our previous update.
Updated
Nine humanitarian corridors have been agreed for Friday, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has announced.
Those wanting to evacuate the cities of Mariupol, Berdyansk, Tokmak and Energodar to Zaporozhye are able to do by car, she said in a post this morning on the Telegram messaging app.
Humanitarian corridors in the Luhansk region will operate subject to the end of shelling by Russian forces, she added.
Updated
Moskva served a key role as command vessel and air defence node, UK MoD says
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has responded to reports of the apparent attack on and sinking of Russia’s Black Sea fleet’s flagship.
The report, released shortly after 6am GMT, reads:
Russia has admitted that the Slava-class cruiser Moskva has sunk. As flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.
The Soviet-era vessel was one of only three Slava-class cruisers in the Russian navy. Originally commissioned in 1979, the Moskva had completed an extensive refit designed to improve its capability and only returned to operational status in 2021.
This incident means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russia’s Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 April 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 15, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/QSfJvjINwD
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/y0p4n4J46U
Updated
Armenia has begun making payments for Russian gas in roubles, minister of economy Vagan Kerobyan told RBC.
“We need to move towards national currencies … As far as I know, the last few payments were in roubles, but at the appropriate rate,” RIA cited Kerobyan as saying.
The minister clarified that the pricing would be in dollars, but payment would be made in roubles.
Updated
In case you missed this assessment from CIA director William Burns, here is a quick re-cap.
During a speech at Georgia Tech university in Atlanta on Thursday, Burns said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin may resort to using a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon in light of military setbacks in the invasion of Ukraine.
Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons.”
The Kremlin said it placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert shortly after the assault began on 24 February, but the United States has not seen “a lot of practical evidence” of actual deployments that would cause more worry, Burns added.
We’re obviously very concerned. I know President Biden is deeply concerned about avoiding a third world war, about avoiding a threshold in which, you know, nuclear conflict becomes possible.”
Meanwhile, former CIA Director David Petraeus has described Russia’s admission that its flagship has sunk as a “rare moment of truth”.
“I’m surprised that they admitted it,” he told the BBC, adding that the facts would have “come out” eventually.
French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to deliver 24 fire trucks and ambulances as well as 50 tons of emergency equipment to Ukraine.
“To support Ukraine, our firefighters and rescue workers are sending 24 fire trucks and ambulances as well as 50 tons of emergency equipment. This is the second convoy in a month,” he said.
To support Ukraine, our firefighters and rescue workers are sending 24 fire trucks and ambulances as well as 50 tons of emergency equipment. This is the second convoy in a month.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 14, 2022
More than 6,500 alleged war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are under investigation, Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office has said.
A total of 6,673 cases have been reported and 198 children have been confirmed to have been killed, the office added.
#RussianWarCrimes pic.twitter.com/NFp0T61d1a
— Офіс Генерального прокурора (@GP_Ukraine) April 15, 2022
Here are just some of the latest images to be sent to us over the newswires today.
Zelenskiy praises Ukraine's bravery on 50th day of war
Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy has marked the 50th day of war, calling Russia’s invasion “absurd” and “suicidal” in his latest national address.
“We have withstood 50 days already. 50 days of Russian invasion, although the occupiers gave us a maximum of five,” he began.
I remember the first day of the invasion of the Russian Federation. I remember what I was told on February 24 ... To put it mildly, no one was sure that we would withstand it. Everyone sympathised. Many of them advised me to flee the country. Advised to actually surrender to tyranny.
But they didn’t know us either. And they did not know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom. Our opportunity to live the way we want. Not the people who rule in such a way that their army sees toilets for the first time in their lives in the occupied territories and steals even ordinary household appliances.
Zelenskiy said Russian troops “are already repeating on our land what Europe saw only during World War II” while criticising the west’s severity of sanctions.
“50 days of our defence is an achievement. Achievement of millions of Ukrainians,” he added.
During the 50 days of this war, Ukraine became a hero for the whole free world. For those who have the courage to call a spade a spade. For those who are not poisoned by propaganda.
You have all become heroes. All Ukrainian men and women who withstood and do not give up. And who will win. Who will return peace to Ukraine. I’m sure of it.”
How important is the Moskva to the Kremlin?
The apparent attack on and sinking of the Black Sea fleet’s flagship – 50 days after Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine – represents a symbolic blow to the Kremlin. The Moskva was the pride of its fleet and the most prestigious vessel involved in the war against Ukraine.
“The sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, is not just a significant loss, it is emblematic of the shambolic Russian military campaign,” said Michael Kofman, research programme director and Russia expert at the US government-funded Center for Naval Analyses.
It has also dealt a blow to one of Russia’s main campaign objectives. The Moskva had been leading a substantial Russian naval presence in the Black Sea, threatening Ukraine’s southern coast and its key ports. This has been one of the main focuses of the Kremlin’s military efforts, and is aimed at cutting off Ukraine’s access to sea and creating a land bridge from the Crimean peninsula to the Russian border.
Commissioned in 1983, it was armed with 16 anti-ship Vulkan cruise missiles with a range of at least 440 miles (700km). According to reports, it was also carrying S-300 anti-air missiles, which are crucial to Russia’s air power over Crimea and Ukraine’s Kherson province, now occupied by Russian troops.
It is the most significant naval vessel to be sunk since the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano was torpedoed by a British submarine, HMS Conqueror, in 1982. It is the first time Moscow has lost a cruiser since German planes sank the Chervona Ukraina (Red Ukraine) in 1941 at Sevastopol – the same Crimean naval base to which the Moskva was supposedly being towed when it sank.
The Moskva gained notoriety early in the war when the crew demanded the surrender of Ukrainian forces on Snake Island, prompting a riposte by radio from one of the border guards on the island: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”
The phrase instantly became synonymous with Ukrainian defiance, and is now a universal meme. The day before the Moskva was sunk, Zelenskiy unveiled a new postage stamp portraying the ship and the Ukrainian border guard with his middle finger raised.
Russia says Moskva warship has sunk after Ukraine claims missile strike
Russia’s Black Sea flagship missile cruiser, the Moskva, sunk while being towed to a port after an explosion, the Russian defence ministry has claimed. It comes after Ukraine on Wednesday said its military struck the Moskva with Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles, while distracting its crew with an aerial drone, causing it to start sinking and forcing the crew of 500 to abandon ship.
Russia’s defence ministry initially denied reports that it had sunk and claimed the fires had been extinguished. It said four Russian ships that had gone to the Moskva’s rescue were hampered by bad weather and by ammunition blowing up on board.
Late on Thursday the ministry said in a statement: “The cruiser ship Moskva lost its stability when it was towed to the port because of the damage to the ship’s hull that it received during the fire from the detonation of ammunition. In stormy sea conditions, the ship sank.”
The claim of bad weather being a factor in the sinking was questioned by observers. Mark Hertling, the former commanding general of the United States Army Europe, told CNN: “As they were towing that ship in, that very wounded ship, into Sevastopol, they claim a storm sank it. Looking at the weather report outside of Sevastopol today the winds were about four miles an hour with 40 degree [4C] temperatures and a little bit of rain.”
Summary
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments before my colleague Martin Belam takes the reins a little later on.
It is approaching 8am in Ukraine. Russia’s prized warship the Moskva has sunk. Ukraine claims it was thanks to the success of a missile strike. Moscow claims a fire on board and “stormy sea conditions” were to blame. An interesting military briefing with Vladimir Putin is sure to ensue.
Here is where the situation currently stands:
-
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has praised his people’s bravery and resolve on the 50th day of war, calling Russia’s invasion “absurd” and “suicidal” in his latest national address. “We have withstood 50 days already. Fifty days of Russian invasion, although the occupiers gave us a maximum of five,” he said.
-
The Russian flagship cruiser Moskva has sunk in the Black Sea off southern Ukraine, according to Russia’s defence ministry. Ukraine claims it was was hit by Ukrainian weaponry – the Neptune cruise missile, which Ukraine builds itself. Russia maintains that a fire on board and then “stormy sea conditions” while it was being towed to port were to blame. Russia only has three of this flagship class of warship, which have crews of almost 500 sailors, and the loss of the Moskva is a big blow. The former CIA director David Petraeus described Russia’s admission as a “rare moment of truth … I’m surprised that they admitted it,” he told the BBC.
- Vladimir Putin may resort to using a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon in light of military setbacks in the invasion of Ukraine, the CIA director, William Burns, has said. During a speech in Atlanta, Burns said: “Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership … none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons.” The Kremlin placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February.
-
Rainy weather in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region could favour the Ukrainian military ahead of a planned Russian offensive, a senior Pentagon official has said. “The fact that the ground is softer will make it harder for them to do anything off of paved highways,” the official, who spoke under condition of anonymity, told AFP.
- Russia has asked Brazil for support in the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the G20 group of top economies to help it counter crippling sanctions, according to a letter seen by Reuters. On 30 March the Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov wrote asking for Brazil’s “support to prevent political accusations and discrimination attempts in international financial institutions and multilateral fora”. A Brazilian economy minister spokesperson indicated that Brazil would like Russia to remain part of discussions at multilateral organisations.
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At least 503 civilians, including 24 children, have been killed in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region since Russia launched its invasion on 24 February, the region’s local governor has said. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city with a prewar population of about 1.5 million, is 40km (25 miles) from the Russian border.
- Russia’s deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said Moscow would take “security and defence measures that we will deem necessary” if Sweden and Finland join Nato. In an interview with the Russian state-owned news agency Tass, the minister said the membership in the military alliance would “seriously worsen the military situation” and lead to “the most undesirable consequences”. Finland and Sweden had earlier taken a major step towards joining Nato.
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Ukraine’s foreign ministry has appealed to the United Nations to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children who have been “illegally deported” to Russia. In a statement, the ministry said Russia had “engaged in state-organised kidnapping of children and destruction of the future of the Ukrainian nation”.
- France is planning to return its embassy to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. It had moved to the western city of Lviv in March as Russia invaded. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged allies to resume their normal diplomatic presence in Ukraine.
- Turkey is still working on organising a meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy, said the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the condition for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents is a document ready for the two leaders to sign.
- The UK government has imposed sanctions on the Chelsea football club director Eugene Tenenbaum in an attempt to freeze up to £10bn of assets linked to the club’s Russian oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich. The UK said it was extending sanctions to Tenenbaum and David Davidovich, another close associate of Abramovich, because the oligarch had transferred billions of pounds of assets to the pair as Russia invaded Ukraine.
- Zelenskiy further urged European countries to give up Russian oil that provides “blood” money to Moscow, and appealed for more weapons to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion.
- A total of 2,557 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Thursday, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, with 289 of those from Mariupol. The head of the UN World Food Program, meanwhile, said people were being “starved to death” in the besieged city.
- Moody’s Investors Service has said that Russia “may be considered in default” if it fails to pay bonds in US dollars by 4 May. Russia paid two bonds in rubles this month after sanctions cut the country off from global financial systems and the US banned Moscow from making debt payments using dollars held in American banks. The payments in rubles “represent a change in payment terms” and may be considered a default, according to Moody’s. S&P Global Ratings has also declared Russia in default.
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A Russian legislator and two aides pushed a covert propaganda campaign aimed at winning US government support for Russia’s foreign policy agenda, including moves against Ukraine, according to a Justice Department indictment seen by the Associated Press.
