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Summary
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned his country “does not have time to wait” while pushing for an oil embargo on Russia in his latest national address. “Oil is one of the two sources of Russian self-confidence, their sense of impunity,” he said.
- Zelenskiy said his country is ready for a tough battle with Russian forces amassing in the east of the country. “This will be a hard battle; we believe in this fight and our victory. We are ready to simultaneously fight and look for diplomatic ways to put an end to this war.”
- The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, pledged a major new infusion of British arms and financial aid during a surprise trip to Kyiv on Saturday. Johnson said the UK and its partners and allies will provide support so that “Ukraine will never be invaded again”. The UK confirmed it will send 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems.
- Johnson praised Zelenskiy’s “resolute leadership and the invincible heroism”. “Putin’s monstrous aims are being thwarted,” Johnson said. The reputations of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his government have been “permanently polluted” by war crimes against civilians in Ukraine, he added.
- Russia’s withdrawal from northern Ukraine has left evidence of “disproportionate targeting” of civilians, mass graves, the use of hostages as human shields, according to the latest British intelligence report. The report also claimed Russian forces continue to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to inflict casualties, lower Ukrainian morale and restrict freedom of movement.
- The Ukrainian military said its soldiers thwarted eight Russian attacks in the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to its latest operational report as of 6am this morning.
- Five people have been killed in east Ukraine shelling, according to the Donetsk governor. Four were reported killed in the city of Vugledar, and one in the town of Novomikhaylovka.
- Towns and villages surrounding Kyiv have been left reeling after Russia’s failed campaign to seize the capital. In the town of Borodianka, north-west of Kyiv, rescue teams are sorting through the rubble of houses destroyed in Russian bombardments, looking for those missing.
- Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange with Russia on Saturday, the third such swap since the start of the war, with 12 soldiers confirmed to be coming home, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, wrote online.
- A total of 4,553 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Saturday, fewer than the 6,665 who escaped on Friday, Vereshchuk said. Ten humanitarian corridors to evacuate people from embattled areas across the country had been agreed on Saturday.
- The European Commission is pledging €1bn to support Ukraine and countries receiving refugees fleeing the war following Russia’s invasion, said the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen.
- The Czech Republic has delivered tanks, multiple-rocket launchers, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine among military shipments that have reached hundreds of millions of dollars and will continue, two Czech defence sources told Reuters.
- The Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, met Zelenskiy earlier on Saturday, following a visit to the city of Bucha to the north-west of Kyiv, where mass civilian graves and street killings by Russian forces were discovered last week.
- Russia has reorganised the command of its battle operations in Ukraine, installing a new general with extensive experience in Russian operations in Syria, according to western officials. The commander of Russia’s southern military district, Gen Alexander Dvornikov, now leads the invasion. “It speaks to a Russian acknowledgement that it is going extremely badly and they need to do something differently,” an official told CNN while a seperate source told the BBC: “We would expect the overall command and control to improve.”
- Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia, one of its key trading partners before the war with annual imports valued at about $6 billion, and called on other countries to follow suit. Ukraine’s minister for economic development and trade, Yulia Svyrydenko, made the announcement in a statement on Saturday.
- Nato is working on plans for a permanent military presence on its border in an effort to battle future Russian aggression, The Telegraph is reporting, citing Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
- Protesters staged a self-described “die-in” outside Downing St in London on Saturday, holding ‘babies’ and signs covered in fake blood in protest against the massacre in the town of Bucha. A similar protest took place outside the White House in Washington D.C.
Eight Russian attacks thwarted in Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukraine says
The Ukrainian military has just published its latest operational report as of 6am this morning.
Officials claim Russian forces are attempting to break through the Ukrainian defences in Izum in Kharkiv, east Ukraine, by relocating additional units to the area while also attempting to establish full control over the city of Mariupol.
A partial blockade of Kharkiv and shelling of the city continues, Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces said.
The “constant arrival of wounded [Russian] soldiers” is putting strain on medical staff and overwhelming medical supplies, the report added.
In the absence of a stable supply of spare parts and units, Russian troops are forced to “work around the clock” to restore and repair equipment, officials claimed.
In the Luhansk region, the measures of Russian-occupation administrations on forced mobilisation of the population in temporarily occupied territories are being strengthened.
According to the report, in the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukrainian soldiers thwarted eight Russian attacks, destroyed four tanks, eight units of armoured vehicles and 13 air targets including three aircraft, one helicopter, five UAVs and four winged missiles.
Updated
Finland is preparing for a potentially historic decision “before midsummer” on whether to apply to join Nato as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
The Nordic nation of 5.5 million has traditionally been militarily non-aligned, in part to avoid provoking its eastern neighbour, with which it shares a 1,300km (830 mile) border.
But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen public support for joining Nato double from 30 to 60%, according to a series of polls.
“Never underestimate the capacity of Finns to take rapid decisions when the world changes,” former Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb told AFP.
Himself a long-time Nato advocate, Stubb now believes Finland making a membership application is “a foregone conclusion” as Finns re-evaluate their relationship with their neighbour.
Next week a government-commissioned national security review will be delivered to parliament, the Eduskunta, to help Finnish MPs make up their own minds, before it is put to a vote.
“We will have very careful discussions but not taking any more time than we have to,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin told a news conference on Friday.
“I think we will end the discussion before midsummer,” she added.
“My guess is that the application will be filed sometime during the month of May” in time for the June Nato summit in Madrid, Stubb said.
When a single ceramic cockerel, sitting atop a kitchen cabinet, survived a bombardment of Borodianka, it became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
So when Boris Johsnon and Volodymyr Zelenskiy were given one each as a gift as they walked through Kyiv, it carried an added significance.
The video footage of the Cockerell. https://t.co/4DDeXOhQzT
— John DC (@manysmilesgod) April 9, 2022
As both leaders stroll through the eerily empty streets of the Ukrainian capital, surrounded by armed soldiers, a woman approaches and gives them the two ceramic jugs in the shape of the cockerel.
“I’m from London,” Johnson says, to which the woman responds with a smile.
“I know, I’m from Kharkiv.”
On the kitchen cabinet that remained mounted after the shelling of #Borodianka and became a symbol of inviolability, a ceramic rooster made by #Ukrainian artist Prokip Bidasiuk was recognized. Today @ZelenskyyUa and @BorisJohnson were presented with same roosters.#WeAreUkraine pic.twitter.com/OZAEnxeT0m
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) April 9, 2022
The ceramic rooster was first designed by the famous Ukrainian artist and sculptor Prokop Bidasiuk, who worked at the local majolica factory and created many dishes, vases, toys and other ceramic products. Bidasiuk, who was born in 1895, has had his work displayed at the National Museum of Folk Applied Arts.
When photos emerged of one of his ceramic cockerels surviving the bombardment of Borodianka, it was adopted as a reflection of Ukrainian resilience, quickly becoming a meme online.
Updated
Here is a little more information on what we know about Putin’s appointment of a new general to direct his war effort in Ukraine.
Army Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, has been named theatre commander of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, according to CNN who cited a US official and a European official.
It speaks to a Russian acknowledgement that it is going extremely badly and they need to do something differently,” the European official said.
A new assault is now expected to focus on the Donbas region, instead of multiple fronts.
Dvornikov, 60, was the first commander of Russia’s military operations in Syria, after Putin sent troops there in September 2015 to back the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. During Dvornikov’s command in Syria from September 2015 to June 2016, Russian aircraft backed the Assad regime and its allies as they laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo, bombarding densely populated neighbourhoods and causing major civilian casualties. The city fell to Syrian government forces in December 2016.
Russian forces have used a similarly heavy-handed approach in parts of Ukraine, striking residential buildings in major cities and demolishing much of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
“We will see how effective that proves to be,” the European official said. “The Russian doctrine, the Russian tactics remain pretty much as they’ve been since Afghanistan.”
“They do things in the same old way,” the official added.
Former UK ambassador to Russia, Sir Roderic Lyne, told Sky News on Saturday Moscow has appointed a new general with a “pretty savage track record in Syria to try to at least gain some territory in Donetsk that Putin could present as a victory.”
In case you missed Boris Johnson’s earlier address during a surprise trip to Kyiv, the British prime minister hailed the leadership of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and signalled that the UK is ready to continue intensifying sanctions on Russia “week by week”.
Johnson said that “we will provide support so that Ukraine will never be invaded again”. It is unclear yet if Johnson meant specifically the UK or Britain and its European and Nato allies.
Protesters staged a self-described “die-in” outside Downing St in London on Saturday.
Demonstrators held ‘babies’ and signs covered in fake blood in protest against the massacre in the town of Bucha and atrocities reportedly committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.
A similar protest took place outside the White House in Washington D.C where protesters lay on the ground as they re-enacted the murder of civilians in Bucha.
Ukraine bans all imports from Russia
Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia, one of its key trading partners before the war with annual imports valued at about $6 billion, and called on other countries to follow suit.
“Today we officially announced a complete termination of trade in goods with the aggressor state,” Ukraine’s minister for economic development and trade, Yulia Svyrydenko, said in a statement on Saturday.
From now on, no Russian Federation’s products will be able to be imported into the territory of our state.
The enemy’s budget will not receive these funds, which will reduce its potential to finance the war.
Such a step of Ukraine can serve as an example for our Western partners and stimulate them to strengthen sanctions against Russia, including the implementation of the energy embargo and isolation of all Russian banks.”
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, exchange of goods and services between the two neighbouring countries has been virtually non-existent, but Saturday’s move makes the termination of imports a law.
Without oil embargo, Russia has 'sense of impunity', Zelenskiy says
We have some more detail from Zelenskiy’s earlier late-night address.
The Ukrainian president urged for “more painful restrictions” on Russia’s cash flow, primarily upon oil and gas.
First of all this applies to the oil business. The democratic world can definitely give up Russian oil and make it toxic to all other states.
Oil is one of the two sources of Russian self-confidence, their sense of impunity.”
Zelenskiy also pushed for gas sanction, saying over time this “will also be shut down”.
“It’s just inevitable. Not only for safety, but also for environmental reasons,” he added.
Towns and villages surrounding Kyiv have been left reeling after Russia’s failed campaign to seize the capital.
The Russian retreat has revealed scores of civilian deaths and devastation inflicted upon homes, apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure.
Images from Borodianka, about 50km north-west of Kyiv, reveal the extent of the destruction.
Nato is working on plans for a permanent military presence on its border in an effort to battle future Russian aggression, The Telegraph is reporting, citing Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
Nato was “in the midst of a very fundamental transformation” that will reflect “the long-term consequences” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions, Stoltenberg said in an interview with the newspaper.
“What we see now is a new reality, a new normal for European security. Therefore, we have now asked our military commanders to provide options for what we call a reset, a longer-term adaptation of Nato,” it cited Stoltenberg as saying.
Stoltenberg, who recently said he would extend his term as head of the alliance by a year, also said in the interview that decisions on the reset would be made at a Nato summit to be held in Madrid in June.
Today so far
It is 4am on Sunday in Ukraine as the country prepares for a feared escalation in attacks in the east and evacuations continue.
During a surprise visit to the capital on Saturday, Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson pledged more military and economic assistance for Ukraine.
Here’s where things stand:
- Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country is ready for a tough battle with Russian forces amassing in the east of the country. “This will be a hard battle, we believe in this fight and our victory. We are ready to simultaneously fight and look for diplomatic ways to put an end to this war,” he said.
- Zelenskiy said Ukraine “does not have time to wait” while pushing for an oil embargo on Russia in his latest national address. He also said he is committed to pressing for peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world, and renewed his plea for countries to send more weapons ahead of an expected surge in fighting in the country’s east, in an interview with the Associated Press.
- British prime minister Boris Johnson pledged a major new infusion of British arms and financial aid during a surprise trip to Kyiv on Saturday. Johnson said the UK and its partners and allies will provide support so that “Ukraine will never be invaded again”. The UK confirmed it will send 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems.
- Johnson praised Zelenskiy’s “resolute leadership and the invincible heroism”. “Putin’s monstrous aims are being thwarted,” he said. The reputations of Vladimir Putin and his government have been “permanently polluted” by war crimes against civilians in Ukraine, he added.
- Russia’s withdrawal from northern Ukrainian has left evidence of “disproportionate targeting” of civilians, mass graves, the use of hostages as human shields, according to the latest British intelligence report. The report also claimed Russian forces continue to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to inflict casualties, lower morale, and restrict Ukrainian freedom of movement.
- Five people have been killed in east Ukraine shelling, according to the Donetsk governor. Four were reported killed in the city of Vugledar, and one in the town of Novomikhaylovka.
- In the town of Borodianka, north-west of Kyiv, rescue teams are sorting through the rubble of houses destroyed in Russian bombardments, looking for those missing. Heavy Russian bombardment has razed residential buildings and Ukrainian authorities are attempting search, clear-up and, hopefully, some rescue activities.
- Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange with Russia on Saturday, the third such swap since the start of the war, with 12 soldiers confirmed to be coming home, Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post.
- A total of 4,553 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Saturday, fewer than the 6,665 who escaped on Friday, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. Ten humanitarian corridors to evacuate people from embattled areas across the country had been agreed on Saturday.
-
The European Commission is pledging 1bn euros to support Ukraine and countries receiving refugees fleeing the war following Russia’s invasion, Ursula von der Leyen said.
- The Czech Republic has delivered tanks, multiple rocket launchers, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine among military shipments that have reached hundreds of millions of dollars and will continue, two Czech defence sources told Reuters.
- Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer also met Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier on Saturday, following a visit to the city of Bucha to the north west of Kyiv, where mass civilian graves and street killings by Russian forces were discovered last week.
- Russia has reorganised the command of its battle operations in Ukraine, installing a new general with extensive experience in Russian operations in Syria, according to a western official. The commander of Russia’s southern military district, Gen Alexander Dvornikov, now leads the invasion, the source told the BBC, adding: “We would expect the overall command and control to improve.”
Here is another look at British prime minister Boris Johnson’s surprise trip to Kyiv on Saturday.
Video footage showed Johnson and Zelenskiy walking through the centre of the Ukrainian capital and talking to ordinary Kyivans.
“This is what democracy looks like. This is what courage looks like. This is what true friendship between peoples and between nations looks like,” the Ukrainian defence ministry said alongside a clip of the pair.
At a handshake distance. @BorisJohnson and @ZelenskyyUa walked through the center of Kyiv and talked to ordinary Kyivans. This is what democracy looks like. This is what courage looks like. This is what true friendship between peoples and between nations looks like. pic.twitter.com/ZcdL6NqNp2
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 9, 2022
A total of 4,553 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Saturday, fewer than the 6,665 who escaped on Friday, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has said.
Iryna Vereshchuk made the announcement in an update on her official Telegram late on Saturday.
From Mariupol and Berdyansk, 3,425 people traveled to Zaporizhia by car or bus, she said.
Of the evacuees, 192 were residents from Mariupol and 3,233 were residents of cities of the Zaporizhia region.
Another 529 residents of Melitopol were also successfully evacuated.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he is “deeply disappointed and saddened” by the behaviour of his old friend Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine invasion.
“I cannot and I do not want to hide that I am deeply disappointed by the behaviour of Vladimir Putin,” Berlusconi told a public meeting in Rome.
“I’ve known him about twenty years ago and he always seemed to me to be a democrat and a man of peace,” the 85-year-old billionaire continued.
Berlusconi, who served as head of the Italian government three times between 1994 and 2011, had previously refrained from publicly criticising Putin.
When he was in power, Berlusconi maintained friendly personal ties with the Russian president, going so far as to invite him on vacation to his luxurious villa in Sardinia.
“Faced with the horror of the massacres of civilians in Bucha and other places, real war crimes, Russia can not deny its responsibilities,” he said Saturday.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has delivered another signature national address, noting that his country “does not have time to wait” while pushing for a oil embargo on Russia.
Ukraine does not have time to wait. Freedom does not have time to wait. When tyranny launches aggression against everything that keeps peace in Europe, action must be taken immediately.
It is necessary to act in a principled fashion. And the oil embargo should be the first step. At the level of all democracies, the whole civilised world.
Then Russia will feel it. Then it will be an argument for them - to seek peace, to stop pointless violence.”
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said Mexico does not accept the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a video message released to coincide with a global event in support of Ukrainian victims of the conflict.
We do not accept Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, because we have suffered from invasions,” said Lopez Obrador, referencing the Spanish, French, and American invasions of the Latin American nation.
We are in favour of a peaceful solution to the conflict.”
Lopez Obrador has tried to remain neutral in the conflict and has declined to impose sanctions against Russia.
While his government backed a United Nations vote urging Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine, Mexico abstained in a vote on Thursday at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on suspending Russia from the UN’s human rights body.
Russia leaves evidence of mass graves and hostages used as human shields,UK MoD says
Russia’s withdrawal from northern Ukrainian has left evidence of “disproportionate targeting” of civilians, mass graves, the use of hostages as human shields, according to the latest British intelligence report.
The report, released just before 10pm GMT, reads:
Russia’s departure from northern Ukraine leaves evidence of the disproportionate targeting of non-combatants including the presence of mass graves, the fatal use of hostages as human shields, and mining of civilian infrastructure.
Russian forces continue to use IEDs to inflict casualties, lower morale, and restrict Ukrainian freedom of movement. Russian forces also continue to attack infrastructure targets with a high risk of collateral harm to civilians, including a nitrate acid tank at Rubizhne.”
An earlier report claimed Russian forces continue to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to inflict casualties, lower morale, and restrict Ukrainian freedom of movement.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 9 April 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 9, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/U5qWONizow
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/z6k7bDdkq2
Updated
The Czech Republic has delivered tanks, multiple rocket launchers, howitzers and infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine among military shipments that have reached hundreds of millions of dollars and will continue, two Czech defence sources told Reuters.
The Czech Republic has spare equipment that Ukrainian forces are familiar with in storage as well as a defence industry focused on upgrades and trade in such weapons. It has been among the most active EU nations in backing Ukraine.
Defence sources confirmed to Reuters a shipment of five T-72 tanks and five BVP-1, or BMP-1, infantry fighting vehicles seen on rail cars in photographs on Twitter and video footage this week, but those were not the first shipments of heavy equipment. A senior defence official said:
For several weeks, we have been supplying heavy ground equipment - I am saying it generally but by definition it is clear that this includes tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers and multiple rocket launchers.
What has gone from the Czech Republic is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The sources declined to discuss numbers of weapons supplied.
The senior defence official said the Czech Republic were also supplying a range of anti-aircraft weaponry.
Independent defence analyst Lukas Visingr said short-range air-defence systems Strela-10, or SA-13 Gopher in Nato terminology, have been spotted on a train apparently bound for Ukraine, in line with a report in Czech weekly respekt.cz.
Interim summary
It’s just after 2am on Sunday in Kyiv, Ukraine. Evacuations are taking place from eastern Ukraine ahead of a feared escalation in attacks there by invading Russian forces. And Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson pledged more military and economic assistance for Ukraine, during a surprise visit on Saturday.
This global blog on the crisis is now handing from the Guardian’s teams in the US and the UK to Australia, where my colleague Samantha Lock will take you through the next few hours.
Here’s where things stand:
- Ukraine is ready for a tough battle with Russian forces amassing in the east of the country. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: “This will be a hard battle, we believe in this fight and our victory. We are ready to simultaneously fight and look for diplomatic ways to put an end to this war.”
- Four people have been reported killed in the city of Vugledar, and one in the town of Novomikhaylovka, two east Ukrainian cities, as a result of Russian shelling, Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko posted on Telegram.
- The Ukrainian government has issued video clips of president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and British prime minister Boris Johnson walking together through the damp streets of Kyiv, where they waved to and met some of the few residents out and about.
- Zelenskiy tweeted thanks to the EU and Canadian leaders for supporting the global pledging event for Ukrainian refugees called Stand Up for Ukraine, which raised just over €10bn (£8.4bn).
- Zelenskiy said he is committed to pressing for peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world, and he renewed his plea for countries to send more weapons ahead of an expected surge in fighting in the country’s east, in an AP interview.
- Boris Johnson said on his visit to Kyiv that the reputations of Vladimir Putin and his government have been “permanently polluted” by war crimes against civilians in Ukraine.
- Johnson pledged that the UK and its partners and allies will provide support so that “Ukraine will never be invaded again”. The current war is still raging, obviously, and far from over. He spoke at a joint press conference with Zelenskiy.
- We are following developments in the Borodianka area, just north-west of Kyiv, where heavy Russian bombardment has razed residential buildings and Ukrainian authorities are attempting search, clear-up and, hopefully, some rescue activities.
- Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange with Russia on Saturday, the third such swap since the start of the war, and 12 soldiers are coming home, Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post.
- Boris Johnson hails Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s leadership and Ukrainian courage in ensuring so far that, despite abominable destruction and the slaughter of civilians, Russian president Vladimir “Putin’s monstrous aims are being thwarted.”
- Johnson agreed that the UK will send another 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems to support Ukraine.
- Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer also met Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier on Saturday, following a visit to the city of Bucha to the north west of Kyiv, where mass civilian graves and street killings by Russian forces were discovered last week.
Updated
Ukraine is ready for a tough battle with Russian forces amassing in the east of the country, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, Reuters reports - also with a few more words from Britain’s Boris Johnson on his visit to Kyiv.
British prime minister Boris Johnson offered fresh financial and military support during the surprise visit.
At a meeting in Kyiv, after reportedly travelling over land to reach the Ukrainian capital, Johnson told Zelenskiy that Britain would provide armoured vehicles and anti-ship missile systems, along with additional support for World Bank loans.
Britain will also continue to ratchet up its sanctions on Russia and move away from using Russian hydrocarbons, he said.
The support aims to ensure that:
Ukraine can never be bullied again, never will be blackmailed again, never will be threatened in the same way again,” Johnson said.
And appearing earlier in the day with Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer, also in Kyiv, Zelenskiy warned in a news conference that while the threat to the capital had receded, it was rising in the east.
This will be a hard battle, we believe in this fight and our victory. We are ready to simultaneously fight and look for diplomatic ways to put an end to this war.”
Ukranian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said Zelenskiy and Russian president Vladimir Putin would not meet until after the country defeated Russia in the east, which would bolster its negotiating position.
We are paying a very high price. But Russia must get rid of its imperial illusions,” he said, according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
Air-raid sirens sounded in cities across eastern Ukraine, which has become the focus of Russian military action after the withdrawal from around Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials have urged civilians in the east to flee.
Updated
Five killed in east Ukraine shelling, according to the Donetsk governor.
Russian shelling killed five civilians and wounded five others in two east Ukrainian cities on Saturday, the local governor said, according to AFP.
Today, five people were killed after Russian shelling in the region of Donetsk,” Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko posted on Telegram.
Four of them died in the city of Vugledar, and one in the town of Novomikhaylovka, he added.
The fighting has become increasingly fierce in the region, where authorities have urged residents to evacuate before a feared Russian offensive.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian army announced on Facebook that it had “destroyed four tanks, eight armoured vehicles and seven enemy vehicles”, as well as “a plane, a helicopter” and drones.
Further north, in the Kharkiv region, “at least two people were killed in Slatyne as a result of a [Russian] shelling and another injured,” the mayor of the neighbouring municipality of Dergachi, Vyacheslav Zadorenko, wrote on Facebook.
In the spirit of open journalism to which the Guardian is committed, we sometimes bring you snippets from normally-rival outlets, simply to keep our readers better informed across the huge area of Ukraine affected by the war, and in addition to the news-gathering, witness reports and analysis our own reporters - and those of the news agencies to which we subscribe - are putting in on the ground.
Here’s some reporting from the New York Times on Saturday, out of Dnipro, Ukraine.
The US newspaper writes: Svitlana Kyrychenko, 47, boarded a bus from Kramatorsk on Saturday morning with only a few days’ clothes, fleeing the eastern city where she had lived her whole life the day after a missile strike on its rail station left dozens dead and many more injured.
After an hours-long ride to the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, she was waiting with her modest luggage at the city’s central train station and looking for a place to stay, along with her 18-year-old daughter, mother and aunt. The station, a transit hub for people heading west, was filled with exhausted families carrying what they could, many with pets in tow.
“I brought nothing with me. I only brought my documents and clothes to change into for a few days,” Kyrychenko said.
Kyrychenko said she had already decided to leave before the strike. She had heard warnings on the news in the days before that the next Russian offensive would envelop Kramatorsk.
The Russian troops are coming, so we are leaving to save our lives. We were not going to leave, because we thought the war wouldn’t affect our city.”
Kramatorsk has been a key military hub for Ukrainian troops since 2014, when Russia-backed separatists seized territory in the Donbas, a region roughly the size of [the state of ] New Hampshire. As signs have grown that Moscow is shifting its military focus east, officials have been urging residents of the city and region to get out quickly.
A former medical worker, Kyrychenko heard in detail from her colleagues about the strike that killed at least 52 civilians. “It was terrible,” she said through tears, recalling descriptions of a nightmarish scene and dozens of people with horrendous injuries.
Officials are warning of a long and grinding offensive in the east, but she was still hoping that she would be back in Kramatorsk soon. “I think it’ll be over in a week,” she added. “I really hope so.”
Marina, a woman from Sloviansk, a city north of Kramatorsk believed to be a major target of Russian forces, had recently evacuated to Dnipro with her children. She was waiting for a bus that would take her to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.
It’s mentally difficult there,” she said of her hometown. “I haven’t slept in two days.”
That dispatch is by the New York Times’s Thomas Gibbons-Neff.
He tweeted this on Friday.
Land Mines on a Timer, Scattered Over a Ukrainian Town. @johnismay https://t.co/XJsFnsLNiJ
— Thomas Gibbons-Neff (@Tmgneff) April 8, 2022
Updated
The Ukrainian government has tweeted some clips of president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and British prime minister Boris Johnson walking together through the damp streets of Kyiv on Saturday.
It’s now just into the first minutes of Sunday in Kyiv. The two leaders waved to the few and far between citizens out on the damp streets of the sprawling Ukrainian capital, following the withdrawal of Russian forces that had been closing in on the city but appeared to get bogged down and stall in the face of local military resistance, boosted by western defensive weapon supplies.
One Kyiv resident appears thrilled to see the leaders and has his hand on his heart as he thanks Johnson for British support.
At a handshake distance. @BorisJohnson and @ZelenskyyUa walked through the center of Kyiv and talked to ordinary Kyivans. This is what democracy looks like. This is what courage looks like. This is what true friendship between peoples and between nations looks like. pic.twitter.com/ZcdL6NqNp2
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 9, 2022
At least one US reporter, CNN’s Jim Sciutto, is asking how Joe Biden or Antony Blinken are feeling now that Johnson, Austria’s Nehammer and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen have visited Kyiv and met with Zelenskiy in person in the last 48 hours.
Biden and Blinken were in Poland late last month but, despite the US president hinting that he was up for visiting Zelenskiy, neither of them went to Kyiv, which was still being menaced by advancing Russian tanks and troops.
But you can imagine some grinding of teeth in frustration in Washington over the timing of all this.
Johnson and Zelenskiy walked through Kyiv’s main Kreshchatyk street to the Maidan square, where a 2014 revolution overthrew a pro-Moscow government, when hostilities with neighbouring Russia began, Agence France-Presse reports.
AFP also has a snippet of the exchange between Johnson and an unnamed member of the public.
We need you,” the man said, to which Johnson replied: “Nice to meet you. We are privileged to help. You have a remarkable president, Mr Zelenskiy.”
Updated
A global pledging event for Ukrainian refugees called Stand Up for Ukraine has raised just over €10bn (£8.4bn), European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in Warsaw on Saturday.
The outpouring has prompted fresh thanks from Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Ukrainian president also spoke to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday and has thanked him for support via Stand Up for Ukraine, run by the Global Citizen international anti-poverty organisation.
Sincere thanks to @vonderleyen, @JustinTrudeau, @GlblCtzn for supporting 🇺🇦, millions of Ukrainians. The #StandUpForUkraine initiative has already raised $10+ bn. This is a huge contribution to 🇺🇦's support after 🇷🇺 invasion. Grateful to everyone who joins. Let's do it together! https://t.co/7YxbZAYCEk
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 9, 2022
Zelenskiy has been on the phone to Trudeau and also posted on Twitter.
Had a phone conversation with @JustinTrudeau. Thanked for supporting the #StandUpForUkraine initiative, for CAD 1 billion of financial assistance and USD 500 million of additional defensive support. Stronger together!
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 9, 2022
“The ‘Stand Up For Ukraine’ campaign has raised €9.1bn for people fleeing bombs, inside and outside Ukraine, with an additional billion pledged by EBRD (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development),” von der Leyen said, AFP reports.
The event, convened by the EU and Trudeau, was to raise money for internally displaced people in Ukraine and refugees from the war-ravaged country, organisers said.
More than 4.4 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on 24 February.
Most of them have headed to EU countries including neighbouring Poland, which has taken in more than 2.5 million refugees so far.
The event, partnered by the Global Citizen movement battling poverty, comprised a social media rally on Friday and a pledging conference on Saturday.
Artists including Elton John, Alanis Morissette, Billie Eilish, Annie Lennox and Chris Rock joined the campaign alongside global leaders pledging for their countries.
“We are devastated to see the suffering of people in Ukraine as this conflict unfolds,” Elton John said on Facebook.
He tweeted, too.
Thank you @Madonna for using this cover of Your Song to raise awareness for #StandUpForUkraine https://t.co/Usm0KDtfvw https://t.co/YlqN3OFvth
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) April 9, 2022
Updated
In more from Borodianka, not far from Kyiv, diggers are sorting through the rubble of houses destroyed in Russian bombardments, looking for those missing, Agence France-Presse reports.
Her eyes red from tears and lack of sleep, Antonina Kaletnyk watched as a digger picked through the remains of the building where her son used to live on the third floor.
The slow process was unbearable for the 65-year-old mother, whose own home was spared by the fighting.
A hole gaped in the middle of the five-storey building, where it was hit by a bomb dropped from a Russian plane on the evening of 1 March, a few days after the start of the invasion.
In a few seconds, the 10 apartments that used to stand here were turned into a heap of concrete and twisted metal.
There were people in this building, it was night ... The people who stayed in the two blocks on the sides of the building were hurt but they’re still alive. Those that stayed [in the middle section], they’re all dead. Maybe he is still there,” she said.
Wearing a brown coat and a blue woollen hat, Kaletnyk sat alone on a chair in the corner of what used to be the building’s garden. She held a cane in front of her in both hands and rested her head on top, a sad, thoughtful look on her face as she watched the diggers do their work.
She had not heard from her son, Yuri, 43, since the night the bomb fell.
Maybe he managed to get out, maybe he is hurt, maybe he is still there [under the rubble]. I can’t say, I don’t know,” she said, before bursting into tears.
Scattered in the ruins of the building there was a pair of shoes, a book, a water pistol, some cushions, clothes and three stuffed animals – a bear, a giraffe and a hippo – all next to each other. A mattress was caught in the branches of a tree.
The main road in Borodianka is now nothing more than a nearly 2km-long strip of ruin and devastation. The town, which numbered around 13,000 inhabitants before the war, was retaken by Ukrainian forces at the end of March after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the region around Kyiv.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned what emerges is likely to be worse than Bucha, where invading Russians have been accused of committing executions and rapes:
They have started sorting through the ruins in Borodyanka. It is much more horrific there.”
Updated
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy gave an interview to the Associated Press news agency in his heavily-fortified office in the capital, Kyiv, on Saturday, the day the leader also sat down with British prime minister Boris Johnson and Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer.
After talking initially about his hope of finding a diplomatic solution with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskiy turned his attention to questions about the supply of western weaponry for Ukraine’s defence in the face of the onslaught from Moscow.
Zelenskiy displayed a palpable sense of resignation and frustration when asked whether the supplies of weapons and other equipment his country had received from the US and other Western countries was enough to turn the tide of the war, AP reported.
Not yet, of course it’s not enough,” he said, switching to English for emphasis.
Still, he noted that there had been increased support from Europe and said deliveries of US weapons had been accelerating.
Just this week, neighboring Slovakia, an EU member, donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine in response to Zelenskiy’s appeal to help “close the skies” to Russian warplanes and missiles.
Some of that support has come after visits from European leaders.
Nehammer said he expected more EU sanctions against Russia even as he defended Austria’s opposition so far to cutting off deliveries of Russian natural gas.
The US, EU and UK responded to the images from Bucha of slaughtered civilians with more sanctions, though the EU has only banned Russia coal so far, not oil and natural gas, on which it relies.
Johnson’s office said the prime minister and Zelenskiy discussed Britain’s “long-term support” for Ukraine.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen presented Ukraine’s leader on Friday with a questionnaire marking the first step for applying for EU membership.
In an in-person interview with AP, the wire service reported that Zelenskiy had turned introspective when asked what impact the pace of arms deliveries had for his people and whether more lives could have been saved if the help had come sooner.
“Very often we look for answers in someone else, but I often look for answers in myself. Did we do enough to get them?” he said of the weapons.
Did we do enough for these leaders to believe in us? Did we do enough?” He paused and shook his head.
“Are we the best for this place and this time? Who knows? I don’t know. You question yourself,” he said.
Updated
Zelenskiy committed to diplomatic solution despite alleged Russian war crimes - interview
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he is committed to pressing for peace despite Russian attacks on civilians that have stunned the world, and he renewed his plea for countries to send more weapons ahead of an expected surge in fighting in the country’s east.
As Boris Johnson met with Zelenskiy on Saturday in a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, The Associated Press was granted a sit-down interview with Zelenskiy. We have the highlights here, from AP journalists Adam Schreck and Mstyslav Chernov, but we’ve taken the liberty of including hyper-links to Guardian articles for context.
Zelenskiy made the comments in an interview with AP a day after at least 52 people were killed in a strike on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, and as evidence of civilian killings came to light after Russian troops failed to seize the capital where he has hunkered down, Kyiv.
No one wants to negotiate with a person or people who tortured this nation. It’s all understandable. And as a man, as a father, I understand this very well [but] we don’t want to lose opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution,” Zelenskiy said.
Wearing the olive drab that has marked his transformation into a wartime leader, he looked visibly exhausted yet animated by a drive to persevere. He spoke to the AP inside the presidential office complex, where windows and hallways are protected by towers of sandbags and heavily armed soldiers.
“We have to fight, but fight for life. You can’t fight for dust when there is nothing and no people. That’s why it is important to stop this war,” he said.
Zelenskiy said he is confident Ukrainians would accept peace despite the horrors they have witnessed in the more than six-week-long war.
Despite hopes for peace, Zelenskyy acknowledged that he must be “realistic” about the prospects for a swift resolution given that negotiations have so far been limited to low-level talks that do not include Russian president Vladimir Putin.
We’ll have more of this interview in the next post, as Zelenskiy addresses military aid from NATO and EU countries - and has some surprising answers.
Johnson earlier in the day spoke about supplying Ukraine with more weapons, though he used the word “defensive”, when Zelenskiy has been pleading for heavier weaponry for, essentially, counter-offensive measures, including fighter jets from the west to allow more Ukrainian pilots to take to the skies and shoot down Russian aircraft - which western allies have ultimately declined to provide.
And here’s some more on Boris Johnson saying that the reputations of Vladimir Putin and his government have been “permanently polluted” by war crimes against civilians in Ukraine.
“What Putin has done in places like Bucha and Irpin is war crimes that have permanently polluted his reputation and the reputation of his government,” the British prime minister said of the Russian president, Agence France-Presse reports.
Johnson spoke of perceived miscalculations by Moscow and heaped praise on Ukrainians.
The Russians believed Ukraine could be engulfed in a matter of days and that Kyiv would falls in hours to their armies. How wrong they were.”
He said the Ukrainians have “shown the courage of a lion.”
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy concluded his talks with Johnson during the British PM’s surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday by calling on other western democratic countries to follow the UK’s example with supplies of weaponry after Britain announced on Friday and Saturday more anti-tank, anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles for Ukraine and more armoured vehicles and armed drones “to support Ukraine in this crucial phase while Russia’s illegal assault continues.”
Updated
Boris Johnson pledges that UK and partners will provide support so that “Ukraine will never be invaded again.”
He also said that the discovery of civilian bodies in Ukrainian towns has “permanently polluted” Russian president Vladimir Putin’s reputation.
Here is more from the exchange that we’ve been flagging between Johnson and Volodymyr Zelenskiy as they addressed the media after the British prime minister made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian president in the embattled capital of Kyiv.
Zelenskiy said, according to the official interpreter: “Our most sincere friend, a friend to Ukraine, the leader of United Kingdom and the ally to our country, I’m very grateful, Boris, for this visit, it’s very important at this difficult and terrible time for our country. The other western democratic countries should follow the example of the UK.
“It’s time to impose a complete embargo on Russian energy resources; they should increase the amount of weapons being supplied. The people of Ukraine value the support of the UK on our paths to peace.”
Johnson said: “I want to begin, Volodymyr, by saluting, once again, the bravery of the people of Ukraine in defying the appalling aggression that we have seen.
“In the last few weeks the world has found new heroes, and those heroes are the people of Ukraine.”
Johnson and Zelenskiy were standing at a small podium each against a backdrop of alternating British and Ukrainian flags.
Johnson made a ratcheting action, saying: “Together with our partners, we are going to ratchet up the economic pressure and we will continue to intensify, week by week, the sanctions on Russia.”
He went on: “Not just freezing assets in banks and sanctioning oligarchs but moving away from using Russian hydrocarbons, and we will give you the support that you need.”
This is clearly a subjective take from Johnson on what Zelenskiy needs, given that the Ukrainian leader has been asking for much heavier weaponry from the west to use in repelling Russia in counter-offensive mode, not just defensive, as Ukraine’s larger neighbour continues to advance in many areas even while withdrawing from around Kyiv.
Johnson continued, appearing to choose his words carefully: “The economic support but also, of course, the defensive military support, in which I’m proud to say that the UK helped to lead the way.”
He then refers to the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus.
“To come to your central point, Volodymyr, I think we are evolving, now, a vision for the future. Heraclitus, I think, said ‘war is the father of all things’... that was an exaggeration, war is not the father of everything, but what this war is certainly producing is a clarity about the vision of a future for Ukraine where, together with friends and partners, we, the UK and others, supply the equipment, the technology, the know-how, the [security] intelligence so that Ukraine will never be invaded again.”
Updated
There are more reports filtering out from the areas around Borodianka of the destruction invading Russian forces rendered in settlements about 90km (55 miles) to the north-west of Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
There’s no English translation on this video clip tweeted out by Belarusian Telegram channel Nexta, but the images and tone are instructive and the journalist concerned, Denis Kazansky, talks about the heavy munitions used to bomb residential buildings.
❗️Journalist Denis Kazansky told about a real horror in #Borodyanka: The town was bombed with half-ton air bombs, which caused the residential apartment buildings to collapse like houses of cards. pic.twitter.com/A55e2IqD4n
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 9, 2022
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned of atrocities in the area that could be as bad or worse as those that emerged in Bucha after the Russians were driven out.
Kira Rudik, the leader of the liberal, pro-European Ukrainian party Golos, is scathing of western efforts to stop Russian president Vladimir Putin from perpetrating his war.
Small town of #Borodyanka is destroyed. Firefighters are looking for people under the blockage.
— Kira Rudik (@kiraincongress) April 9, 2022
That reminded me of pictures of 9/11. So a question: why did the whole world was hunting for #BinLaden, and #Putin gets another condemnation?
Don’t answer. I understand. pic.twitter.com/ytFz60zh6b
Updated
Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange with Russia on Saturday, the third such swap since the start of the war, and 12 soldiers are coming home, Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post, Reuters reports.
Vereshchuk also said that as part of the deal, 14 civilians were returning to Ukraine. She did not say how many Russians had been released.
Ukraine has been citing further evidence from some Russian prisoners of war that Russia has committed war crimes by deliberately targeting civilians since Moscow’s invasion of its southern neighbor.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told US TV channel CBS’s 60 Minutes show on Friday that:
There are recordings of prisoners of war who admitted killing people... [and] there are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead,” he said in a translation provided by CBS.
In Mariupol, the Russians collect the bodies of killed citizens in an underground passage on the outskirts of the city near Sadkiv, and then burn them in the crematorium - Mariupol City Council reports#RussianWarCrimes pic.twitter.com/vBWBumt6Sh
— Oleksandra Matviichuk (@avalaina) April 9, 2022
Boris Johnson hails Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s leadership and Ukrainian courage in ensuring so far that, despite abominable destruction and the slaughter of civilians, Russian president Vladimir “Putin’s monstrous aims are being thwarted.” The British prime minister is speaking in Kyiv.
He vowed UK armoured vehicles and anti-ship missiles for Ukraine as he acclaimed its military for “the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century”, Agence France-Presse reports.
“It is because of President Zelenskiy’s resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people that Putin’s monstrous aims are being thwarted,” he said after meeting Zelenskiy on an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital, according to a Downing Street statement.
Johnson set out extra military aid of 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems, “to support Ukraine in this crucial phase while Russia’s illegal assault continues”, the statement said.
That is on top of UK aid announced Friday of additional Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and another 800 anti-tank missiles, along with “loitering” drones for “precision strikes” against the Russians.
As world powers held a fundraising round for Ukraine, Johnson also promised an extra $500 million via the World Bank.
Johnson said it had been a “privilege” to meet Zelensky in person on his surprise visit.
“Ukraine has defied the odds and pushed back Russian forces from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st century.
I made clear today that the United Kingdom stands unwaveringly with them in this ongoing fight, and we are in it for the long run.”
Updated
'We will provide support so that Ukraine is never invaded again' - Johnson
British prime minister Boris Johnson has made further pledges on his surprise visit to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Johnson signalled that the UK is ready to continue to intensify sanctions on warmonger Russia “week by week” and that Britain will strive to move away from Russian hydrocarbons - ie coal, gas and oil.
He has also indicated that we - and it’s unclear yet if Johnson means specifically the UK or Britain and its European and NATO allies - “will provide support so that Ukraine will never be invaded again”.
That’s a very front-footed statement, it’s not every day a political leader will venture to use the word “never” in the context of international security and conflict.
Together with our partners, we are going to ratchet up the economic pressure and we will continue to intensify, week by week, the sanctions on Russia,” Johnson said in comments to the media moments ago, standing alongside Zelenskiy.
We’ll have more details for you very shortly.
Updated
The Prime Minister has agreed that the UK will send 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems to support Ukraine following talks between Boris Johnson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday.
It is because of President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy’s resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people that (Vladimir) Putin’s monstrous aims are being thwarted,” Boris Johnson said via a statement from Downing Street.
Anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, as well as so-called “suicide drones”, are also among the equipment the UK has pledged to provide Ukraine in the £10o financial and military aid package announced by the PM on Friday.
That’s it from me, Jenn Selby, today. My colleague, Joanna Walters, will be taking over now.
Updated
Boris Johnson is not the only world leader to hold talks in Kyiv today.
Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, also met Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier following a visit to the city of Bucha to the north west of Kyiv, where mass civilian graves were discovered last week.
After the meeting, Zelenskiy said that despite the atrocities, he was “ready for negotiations” with Russia and “looking for any way to stop this war”.
However, he added: “Sadly, in parallel we see the preparations for important battles, some people say decisive ones, in the east.”
Updated
The Prime Minister has tweeted a photograph of himself shaking hands with Ukrainian president Zelenskiy following their meeting at the embassy in Kyiv.
“We’re setting out a new package of financial and military aid which is a testament of our commitment to his country’s struggle against Russia’s barbaric campaign,” he said.
Today I met my friend President @ZelenskyyUa in Kyiv as a show of our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 9, 2022
We're setting out a new package of financial & military aid which is a testament of our commitment to his country's struggle against Russia’s barbaric campaign. pic.twitter.com/KNY0Nm6NQ3
More pictures have emerged of Boris Johnson’s surprise one-on-one meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv.
The pair can be seen shaking hands in front of a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag, as well as perusing the grounds of the Ukrainian embassy to the UK.
The Prime Minister travelled to Ukraine as a “show of support” for people of the war-torn country.
The leaders discussed the UK’s long term support to Ukraine, and outlined the new £100m British package of financial and military aid to the country, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, as well as so-called “suicide drones”, which loiter over the battlefield before attacking their target, are among the equipment the UK has pledged to provide.
Updated
US intelligence officials claim Vladimir Putin may use the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine as a pretext to order a new campaign to interfere in American politics.
Intelligence agencies have not found any evidence that the Russian president authorised measures like the ones Russia is believed to have undertaken in the 2016 and 2020 elections in support of Donald Trump.
However, officials believe he may see the US backing of the Ukrainian resistance effort as a direct affront, giving him further incentive to target another US election.
Summary
It is just past 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand now:
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has described a missile strike on a railway station in eastern Ukraine as a Russian war crime and called for a “firm global response”. At least 50 people, including five children, were killed in the missile strike on Kramatorsk train station. The US believes Russia used a short range ballistic missile on the train station. Russia has denied responsibility.
- The UK prime minister held a one-to-one meeting with the Ukrainian president in the capital this afternoon. Johnson met Zelenskiy “in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
- Ukraine’s defence ministry has accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in the town of Makariv in the Kyiv region. The town’s mayor, Vadym Tokar, said on Friday that 132 people had been killed in the town about 50km west of the capital.
-
As of today, 176 children have died and 324 have been wounded in Ukraine since Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into the country, Ukraine’s prosecutor general office has said. It said the figures were yet to be finalised as “work is underway to establish them in places of active hostilities, in temporarily occupied and liberated territories”. The Guardian has not been able to verify this information.
- The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Russian forces appeared to have committed war crimes by targeting civilians in Ukraine. Leaving Ukraine today after visiting the devastated town of Bucha on Friday, she told reporters: “My instinct says, if this is not a war crime, what is a war crime?”
- Later that day while at a fundraising event for Ukraine in Warsaw, von der Leyen said the European Commission will pledge 1bn euros to support Ukraine and countries receiving refugees fleeing the war.
-
Russia has reorganised the command of its battle operations in Ukraine, installing a new general with extensive experience in Russian operations in Syria, according to a western official. The commander of Russia’s southern military district, Gen Alexander Dvornikov, now leads the invasion, the source told the BBC, adding: “We would expect the overall command and control to improve.”
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Ten humanitarian corridors have been agreed for Saturday for people from besieged regions, including the city of Mariupol, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said. Residents remaining in eastern Ukraine’s embattled city of Luhansk must evacuate, the governor said.
- Russian air activity is expected to increase in the south and east of Ukraine, according to the UK’s ministry of defence. Russian operations continue to focus on Donbas, Mariupol and Mykolaiv, supported by continued cruise missile launches into Ukraine by Russian naval forces, it said.
- A curfew will be in place in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa from Saturday evening until Monday evening, in response to the shelling of the train station in Kramatorsk, and the threat of a missile strike.
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Figures published today by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, show that 4,441,663 Ukrainian refugees have fled the country since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February. About 90% of those who have fled Ukraine are women and children.
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A Ukrainian government minister has said she expects Ukraine to be granted EU candidate country status in June. Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said her country was “ready to move fast” with its application to become a member of the European Union.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, today as I hand the blog over to my colleague Jenn Selby. Thank you for reading, I’ll be back on Monday.
Updated
EU to pledge 1bn euros for Ukraine
The European Commission is pledging 1bn euros to support Ukraine and countries receiving refugees fleeing the war following Russia’s invasion, Ursula von der Leyen said.
Speaking at a fundraising event for Ukraine in Warsaw, the European Commission president said:
Six hundred million of those will go to Ukraine, to the Ukrainian authorities and partially to the United Nations.
And 400m euros will go to the frontline states that are doing such an outstanding job and helping the refugees that are coming.
#UPDATE A global pledging event for Ukrainian refugees called Stand Up for Ukraine has raised 10.1 billion euros ($11 billion), European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in Warsaw on Saturday pic.twitter.com/yE7XV51CQq
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 9, 2022
Updated
Boris Johnson’s trip to Kyiv is a publicity coup for the prime minister who has been desperate to travel to Ukraine.
The security situation in the capital has stabilised after Russian forces withdrew from their forward positions on 29 March. They abandoned the towns of Bucha and Gostomel north west of Kyiv and retreated to Belarus.
Since then artillery attacks on the city have stopped. Emergency teams have swept highways and roadsides for explosives and have been towing away destroyed Russian armoured vehicles.
With air travel impossible Johnson will have driven to Kyiv, most probably from eastern Poland. The 600-km route from the border passes the western city of Lviv.
On the outskirts of the capital, Johnson will have seen blown up Russian tanks by the side of the road as well as ironic welcoming signs painted by Ukrainians saying: “Russia go fuck yourself”.
Johnson is a popular figure in Kyiv after having delivered vital anti-tank weapons, the Swedish-developed NLAW system, to the Ukrainian army. President Zelenskiy has repeatedly praised the UK’s staunch support.
A growing number of senior politicians are now making the arduous trip. On Friday the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen visited together with her deputy Josep Borrell. Both condemned the Russian rocket attack on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk.
Johnson travelled to Kyiv before the invasion on 1 February and held talks with Zelenskiy in the Mariinsky palace, the president’s official residence.
He said the UK would impose sanctions on Russia as soon as the “first Russian toecap” strode into Ukrainian territory. He also warned - correctly - that Russia’s armed forces were a “clear and present danger”.
Updated
Here’s more on Boris Johnson’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The UK prime minister travelled to Ukraine to meet Zelenskiy in person “in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people”, Downing Street said.
They will discuss the UK’s long term support to Ukraine and the PM will set out a new package of financial and military aid.
Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of Ukraine’s president office, said on Facebook that the two leaders were holding a “one-on-one meeting”.
Sybiha added:
The UK is the leader in defence support for Ukraine. The leader in the antiwar coalition. The leader in sanctions against the Russian aggressor.
Updated
Ukraine says 176 children killed since Russian invasion
As of Saturday 9 April, 176 children have died and 324 have been wounded in Ukraine since Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into the country, Ukraine’s prosecutor general office has said.
In a statement on Telegram, it said the figures were yet to be finalised as “work is underway to establish them in places of active hostilities, in temporarily occupied and liberated territories”.
According to the data from juvenile prosecutors, the highest number of casualties were recorded in Donetsk oblast (102), Kyiv (91), Kharkiv (76), Chernihiv (50), Mykolaiv (40), Luhansk (35), Zaporizhzhia (22), Kherson (29), the city of Kyiv (16), Sumy (16) and Zhytomyr (15).
❗As a result of the armed aggression of 🇷🇺 in #Ukraine, 176 children died. More than 324 were injured
— Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine - Ukrainian Parliament (@ua_parliament) April 9, 2022
These figures are not final, as work is underway to establish them in places of active attacks, in the temporarily occupied and liberated territories.#StopRussia #StopPutin pic.twitter.com/3hGoCKS3TN
Note: the Guardian is not able to verify the information.
Updated
Boris Johnson meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv
The UK prime minister is holding a meeting with the Ukrainian president in the capital this afternoon.
The Ukrainian embassy to the UK shared a photograph of the two leaders in talks:
Surprise 😉 pic.twitter.com/AWa5RjYosD
— Embassy of Ukraine to the UK (@UkrEmbLondon) April 9, 2022
Updated
Residents remaining in eastern Ukraine’s embattled city of Luhansk must evacuate, the governor has said as shelling intensifies and Russia bolsters its forces.
Ukraine has been warning that Moscow is withdrawing from areas to the north of Kyiv in order to focus its offensive military operations on the country’s east. Moscow, which initially justified its invasion by claiming to need to protect Russian-speaking civilians in the self-proclaimed republics in Donbas, has confirmed the change in strategy.
Governor Serhiy Gaidai said about 30% of residents had stayed in the area’s cities and villages despite being asked to leave.
Gaidai told public television:
They [Russia] are amassing forces for an offensive and we see the number of shellings has increased.
Russian operations continue to focus on the south-eastern parts of the country, targeting Donbas, Mariupol and Mykolaiv, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.
The attacks are “supported by continued cruise missile launches into Ukraine by Russian naval forces”, according to its latest intelligence update. It said it expected Russian air activity “to increase in the south and east of Ukraine in support of this activity” but that forces had failed to establish a land corridor between Crimea and Donbas.
With Russia’s offensive refocused, the US has warned that Moscow likely plans to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers in eastern Ukraine. “At this juncture we believe Russia is revising its war aims” to concentrate on “eastern and parts of southern Ukraine rather than target most of the territory,” President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said earlier this week.
The Economist’s Tim Judah shared a video showing a children’s library destroyed by Russian shelling in the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.
Children’s library destroyed by Russian bombing in #Chernihiv #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/iFNsbHCSK3
— Tim Judah (@timjudah1) April 9, 2022
The EU will discuss its support for war crimes investigations in Ukraine in meetings over the next two days with the international criminal court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.
Khan will meet with the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on Sunday in Luxembourg, before meeting with EU foreign ministers on Monday, the European Commission said.
The meetings underline the EU’s support for investigations into atrocities in Ukraine, AFP reports.
After the discovery of corpses in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv, the Ukrainian government and some neighbouring EU countries accused Russia of war crimes, which Moscow has denied.
Top EU officials have opted to await the results of the war crimes investigations conducted by Ukraine’s prosecution service with help from the ICC, the EU, the UN human rights commissioner and the OSCE.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who visited Bucha on Friday with Borrell, said as she left Ukraine on Saturday:
If this is not a war crime, what is a war crime?
But a rigorous investigation was needed so that any future war crimes charges stood up in court, she added.
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Italy plans to reopen its embassy in Kyiv immediately after Easter, Reuters has cited the Italian foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, as saying.
Speaking after a meeting at the foreign ministry to discuss the war in Ukraine, Di Maio said:
We were the last to leave Kyiv and we will be among the first to go back.
At the same time we must intensify diplomatic pressure to bring [Russian president Vladimir] Putin to the talks table and reach a ceasefire.
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Poster at Kyiv main railway station… pic.twitter.com/FlkHUMcsVC
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) April 9, 2022
More than 4.4m Ukrainians flee war, UN says
Figures published today by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, show that 4,441,663 Ukrainian refugees have fled the country since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
That figure was 59,347 more than the previous day. About 90% of those who have fled Ukraine are women and children.
About 210,000 non-Ukrainians have also fled the country, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
An estimated 7.1 million people have been displaced within Ukraine, according to figures published by the IOM earlier this week.
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YouTube has blocked the Russian parliamentary channel Duma TV, leading Russian officials to warn that the platform may be restricted in response.
A message on YouTube on Saturday announced that the Duma channel had been “terminated for a violation of YouTube’s terms of service”.
The move drew ire from Russian officials, who warned that the site, which is owned by Alphabet, could face restrictions in response. “From the look of it, YouTube has signed its own warrant. Save content, transfer [it] to Russian platforms. And hurry up,” said the foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on the Telegram messaging service.
The Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor said it had requested that Google restore access to the Duma channel immediately, Reuters reported. “The American IT company adheres to a pronounced anti-Russian position in the information war unleashed by the west against our country,” Roskomnadzor said.
Google told Reuters in an emailed comment that is was committed to compliance with all applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws. “If we find that an account violates our terms of service, we take appropriate action. Our teams are closely monitoring the situation for any updates and changes.”
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The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has called for the perpetrators of civilian killings in Bucha to be held accountable for war crimes.
“This is something we cannot forget,” Scholz said in a speech on Saturday reported by Reuters. “We cannot overlook that this is a crime. These are war crimes we will not accept ... Those who did this must be held accountable.” He said that Germany would continue supplying Ukraine with defensive weapons.
Ukrainian officials said hundreds of dead civilians have been found dead since Russian forces withdrew from Bucha last week. Bucha’s deputy mayor said that more than 360 civilians were killed and between about 260 and 280 were buried by other residents in a mass grave.
Moscow has denied the allegations that its forces killed civilians in Bucha while occupying the town, labelling it a “monstrous forgery” aimed at attacking the Russian army. Satellite images showing bodies on Bucha’s streets mean the massacre can be precisely dated to before Russian forces evacuated the town.
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132 'tormented bodies' found in liberated town, says Ukraine
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in the town of Makariv in the Kyiv region.
The town’s mayor, Vadym Tokar, said on Friday that 132 people had been killed. Makariv is about 50km west of the capital.
As 🇺🇦 rescuers advance in the territory liberated from 🇷🇺 occupiers, new monstrous war crimes are uncovered. The town of Makariv in the Kyiv region is half ruined. 132 tormented bodies of tortured, murdered citizens have already been found.#russianwarcrimes
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 9, 2022
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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Friday strongly condemned a missile strike on a train station in Kramatorsk that killed at least 50 people, including five children.
He and other leaders accused Russia’s military of deliberately attacking the station. Russia, in turn, blamed Ukraine, saying its forces did not use the kind of missile that hit the station – a contention dismissed by experts.
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Universities in the UK are partnering with higher education institutions in Ukraine to offer support and minimise “the risk of brain drain” during the conflict.
The relationships could allow Ukrainian academics to be based at UK universities, host summer schools at UK campuses, and allow English-speaking students to take online modules recognised by their universities.
“This project is designed to support Ukrainian universities to continue to function during this difficult time,” said Charles Cormack, the founder and chairman of Cormack Consultancy Group, which is coordinating the scheme with the support of Universities UK, a collective of 140 universities.
By supporting them in their mission we are also minimising the risk of brain drain, with academics and students disappearing into the HE systems of other countries.
While the project remains in the early stages, already 30 universities across the UK – including the University of London, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Glasgow – are among those that have expressed interest.
More than 25 Ukrainian higher education institutions ranging from medical, law and polytechnic universities in Lviv, Kyiv and elsewhere have registered interest.
The partnership between institutions hopes to secure “long-term” collaboration across curriculum content, online resources, research and the movement of students and staff.
Other short-term proposed initiatives include access to libraries and online resources, helping to protect Ukrainian resources, including rare book collections, and connecting student unions to raise funds for new equipment.
Ukrainians currently studying in the UK will automatically qualify for three years’ leave to remain under the Ukraine extension scheme.
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Civilians in Russian-occupied areas of the Kyiv region experienced widespread threats of violence and intimidation by Russian forces, the Ukrainian human rights activist Oksana Pokalchuk has said.
Two men from the town of Bucha, on the north-west outskirts of Kyiv, said snipers “regularly” shot at them when they went to salvage food from a destroyed grocery store near their home, she said.
Pokalchuk, who heads the Ukrainian section of Amnesty International, shared testimonies of what life was like under Russian occupation:
Interviewees told us they had lost access to electricity, water, and gas in the early days of the invasion, and there was very limited access to food.
— Oksana Pokalchuk (@OPokalchuk) April 9, 2022
One man in Hostomel said that he saw an entire dormitory of people who were sheltering from shelling who were forced to go outside, where Russian military officers immediately fired gunshots over their heads, forcing them to drop to the ground.
— Oksana Pokalchuk (@OPokalchuk) April 9, 2022
The accounts offered only a “small glimpse into the horrors people under occupation have endured”, she said.
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Russia’s actions appear to be war crimes, Von der Leyen says
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Russian forces appeared to have committed war crimes by targeting civilians in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Leaving Ukraine today after visiting the devastated town of Bucha on Friday, she told reporters:
My instinct says, if this is not a war crime, what is a war crime? But I am a medical doctor by training, and lawyers have to investigate carefully.
I saw the photos [that the Ukrainian prime minister] Denys Shmyhal showed me: killing people as they are walking by.
We could also see with our own eyes that the destruction in the city is targeted into the civilian lives. Residential buildings are no military target.
On Friday, forensic investigators began exhuming a mass grave in Bucha, wrapping in black plastic and laying out the bodies of civilians who officials say were killed while Russian troops occupied the town on the north-west outskirts of Kyiv.
Von der Leyen said the EU was working with Ukraine in a joint investigation team to gather evidence of possible war crimes for use in future court cases.
It is extremely important that it is well documented, to prevent defeats in court because the evidence is not good enough.
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Russian soldiers who seized control of Chernobyl showed “lax and careless behaviour” towards radioactive material during their occupation of the decommissioned nuclear power station, Ukrainian soldiers have said.
The Red Forest around Chernobyl is one of the most radiation-contaminated areas in the world, and the Ukrainian military has accused Russian troops of digging trenches in that area.
One soldier told CNN:
They went to the Red Forest and brought radioactive material back with them on their shoes.
The Russian soldiers “went everywhere, and they also took some radioactive dust on them” when they left, the soldier added.
Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, Denys Monastyrskiy, also accused Russian troops of locking Chernobyl security staff in the plant’s underground nuclear bunker, crammed in tight quarters without access to natural light, fresh air or communication with the outside world.
"When I arrived here, I was shocked." - Ukraine Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyy describes what he found at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to @fpleitgenCNN, who was among the first to tour the infamous plant after the Russian army withdrew. pic.twitter.com/6dVhdFl70t
— CNN (@CNN) April 8, 2022
Monastyrskyy said:
They were kept here for 30 days without sufficient lighting and food. They were not allowed outside.
On the last day they were taken away from here to an unknown direction.
He said he believed that the men had been taken to Russia as prisoners of war, but did not know for certain.
Today we know nothing about their fate, unfortunately.
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The head of the British Red Cross, Mike Adamson, has called for the removal of visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees seeking sanctuary in the UK.
Only a “small trickle” of refugees are reaching the UK, Adamson told the BBC, arguing that it should be made “much easier to come here”.
The charity’s chief executive said:
It will remain a slow process with the current visa arrangements in place and it’s only if we remove those that we’ll actually start to see a steady flow.
The whole of Europe and many other countries have waived their visa requirements.
He added:
The key thing is we get far more people here, and then Britain would be playing its part at scale alongside our partners across Europe and of course showing solidarity and practical support to the people of Ukraine in this terrible situation.
On Friday, the British home secretary, Priti Patel, apologised for the time it has taken for Ukrainian refugees to arrive in the UK under two visa schemes.
While other European countries have accepted hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the Russian invasion, only about 1,200 people have so far arrived in Britain under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, for those who are sponsored by UK hosts. Another 10,800 people have arrived under the Ukrainian family scheme, for those with existing family connections to the UK.
By Thursday, the government had received 79,800 visa applications from Ukrainians and had issued a total of 40,900 visas.
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Ukraine 'expects to be granted EU candidate status in June', minister says
A Ukrainian government minister has said she expects Ukraine to be granted EU candidate country status in June.
Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, said her country was “ready to move fast” with its application to become a member of the European Union.
🇺🇦🇪🇺Ukraine received the EU membership questionnaire. We have already done much preparatory work, so ready to move fast.
— Olga Stefanishyna (@StefanishynaO) April 9, 2022
Expect to be granted a candidate status in June.
It is part of our recovery & victory over RU aggressor who wants to reverse Ukraine's democratic course pic.twitter.com/1rSiYC53Qc
Her remarks come a day after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, pledged to offer a speedy response to Ukraine’s bid for bloc membership.
At a joint news conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Von der Leyen handed the Ukrainian president a questionnaire that will form a starting point for a decision on membership, saying:
It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion but, I think, a matter of weeks.
Zelenskiy told the same news conference he would come back with answers in a week.
"Dear Volodymyr, my message today is clear: Ukraine belongs in the European family. We have heard your request, loud and clear"
— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) April 8, 2022
President @vonderleyen in Kyiv. Read full statement https://t.co/if5g7VKmv4 pic.twitter.com/DOSteEkWMP
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After almost 30 years, the band Pink Floyd will release a new song to raise money for humanitarian relief in Ukraine, featuring the vocals of a Ukrainian singer who quit an international tour to fight for his country and was wounded.
The project started when the Pink Floyd vocalist and guitarist David Gilmour learned that Andriy Khlyvnyuk – with whom he had previously performed – had left a US tour with Boombox and returned to Ukraine to join the territorial defence forces to defend his country from Russia’s invasion.
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On a two-day visit to a Ukrainian village occupied by Russian forces for more than a month, Shaun Walker spoke to residents who recounted stories of killings and looting by a demoralised invasion force:
The day the Russians arrived in the sleepy, windswept village of Staryi Bykiv, they killed six men. By the time they had departed 32 days later, the soldiers had carried out at least three more killings, destroyed the school, systematically looted dozens of houses and turned much of the central street into a wasteland of charred buildings and rubble.
The images from Bucha, west of Kyiv, have shocked the world and intensified Ukrainian anger over the Russian invasion, but the story emerging in harder-to-access small towns and villages east of the Ukrainian capital suggests those war crimes are far from an anomaly.
Novyi and Staryi Bykiv, two halves of one village separated by a small river, are about 50 miles (80km) east of Kyiv. Dotted with ramshackle cottages, their combined population is about 2,000. In normal times, very little happens here: ducks waddle through the potholed streets, and people work the fields or tend to their own small plots of land and livestock holdings.
The Russian army entered the area on 27 February, three days into its invasion, as part of its drive towards Kyiv from three directions. When the advance stalled, they set up a base, moving in tanks, artillery and surface-to-air missile systems.
The accounts given by dozens of residents in Staryi and Novyi Bykiv during a two-day visit by the Guardian paint a picture of a thieving, violent and demoralised invasion force that was confused about whether it was supposed to be liberating Ukrainians or destroying them.
Finally allowed to walk around freely after a month of terror, men and women wandered the streets on Thursday still in a state of shock. In the car park outside the small village administration building in Novyi Bykiv, children gawped at the charred shells of two Russian armoured vehicles, one with the uniform of a Russian soldier still draped over one of its hatches.
Read more of Shaun’s article here: After Russians’ retreat, scarred Ukrainian village recounts month of terror
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Russia shakes up military command in Ukraine - reports
Russia has reorganised the command of its battle operations in Ukraine, installing a new general with extensive experience in Russian operations in Syria, according to a western official.
The commander of Russia’s southern military district, Gen Alexander Dvornikov, now leads the invasion, the source told the BBC.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said:
That particular commander has a lot of experience of operations of Russian operations in Syria.
So we would expect the overall command and control to improve.
The instatement was done in an attempt to improve coordination between units, as Russian forces had previously been organised and commanded separately, the official said.
Russia is forced to change its military leadership due to failed war efforts. General Alexander Dvornikov, who committed unspeakable war crimes in #Syria will lead the army, as Putin desires to replicate the Syria genocide in Ukraine
— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) April 8, 2022
Expect expansion of terror campaign in 🇺🇦. pic.twitter.com/80yCAGftUT
Russia has so far struggled to achieve its war goals since launching its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, failing to capture any major Ukrainian cities.
Moscow has since reframed its ambitions to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, although Ukrainian officials have warned Russia’s long-term objective is to seize the entire country.
The official added:
Unless Russia is able to change its tactics, it’s very difficult to see how they succeed in even these limited objectives that they’ve reset themselves.
Hello. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
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Summary
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has described a missile strike on a railway station in eastern Ukraine as a Russian war crime and called for a “firm global response”. At least 52 people, including five children, were killed in the missile strike on Kramatorsk train station. The US believes Russia used a short range ballistic missile on the train station. Russia has denied responsibility.
- Ten humanitarian corridors have been agreed for Saturday for people from besieged regions, including the city of Mariupol, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk. The governor of Luhansk earlier called for more evacuations, warning that shelling had increased over recent days and that more Russian troops had arrived in the region.
- Russian air activity is expected to increase in the south and east of Ukraine, according to the UK’s ministry of defence, which said Russian operations continue to focus on Donbas, Mariupol and Mykolaiv, supported by continued cruise missile launches into Ukraine by Russian naval forces.
- A curfew will be in place in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa from Saturday evening until Monday evening, in response to the shelling of the train station in Kramatorsk, and the threat of a missile strike.
- Two UN agencies have called for “urgent action” to help an estimated 1,000 seafarers stranded in Ukrainian ports and waters with dwindling supplies.
- The US-based Institute for the Study of War says that Ukrainian forces retain control of defensive positions in eastern and southwestern Mariupol. Russian forces are continuing to attempt to redeploy units in eastern Ukraine. However, such troops are “unlikely to enable a Russian breakthrough and face poor morale”, ISW says.
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Some Russian military units have experienced major losses, a senior US defence official said, and the Pentagon estimates Russia’s combat power is between 80% and 85% of pre-invasion levels.
Updated
Here are some images from across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
In Bucha, investigators begin exhuming a mass grave to gather evidence of war crimes in the liberated town.
Thousands of civilians are believed to remain trapped in Mariupol, where they have faced weeks of heavy shelling.
Inside the administrative building of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which was occupied by Russian troops.
Ten humanitarian corridors agreed for Saturday
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 10 humanitarian corridors for people from besieged regions have been agreed, Reuters reports.
This includes one for people evacuating by private transport from the city of Mariupol, Vereshchuk said.
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Luhansk Governor calls for more evacuations, warning of Russian troop build up
More evacuations are needed from Luhansk in Ukraine as shelling has increased in recent days and more Russian forces have been arriving, Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Saturday, according to Reuters.
He said that some 30% of people still remain in settlements there and have been asked to evacuate.
“They (Russia) are amassing forces for an offensive and we see the number of shelling has increased,” Gaidai told the public television broadcaster.
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Some 176 children have been killed following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office. A further 324 children have been injured, it said.
Злочини рф, вчинені в період повномасштабного вторгнення станом на 09.04.2022#stoprussia pic.twitter.com/H0bw2aKKhk
— МВС України (@MVS_UA) April 9, 2022
Russian efforts to establish a land corridor between Crimea and the Donbas continue to be thwarted by Ukrainian resistance, the UK’s Ministry of Defence says in its latest update.
It also states:
- Russia continues to hit Ukrainian non-combatants, such as those killed in yesterday’s rocket strike on Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine.
- Russian operations continue to focus on Donbas, Mariupol and Mykolaiv, supported by continued cruise missile launches into Ukraine by Russian naval forces.
- Russian air activity is expected to increase in the south and east of Ukraine in support of this activity.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 9 April 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) April 9, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/E0EjD3xPmZ
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/hswPju7mdi
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A curfew will be in place in Ukraine’s southern city of Odessa from this evening until Monday evening. This is in response to the shelling of the train station in Kramatorsk, and the threat of a missile strike, reports AFP.
In its latest analysis, the US-based Institute for the Study of War says that Ukrainian forces retain control of defensive positions in eastern and southwestern Mariupol.
Russian forces are continuing to attempt to redeploy troops withdrawn from northeastern Ukraine to support an offensive in eastern Ukraine. However, such troops are “unlikely to enable a Russian breakthrough and face poor morale”, ISW says.
Here are its key takeaways:
- Ukrainian forces continued to hold out against Russian assaults in areas of southwestern and eastern Mariupol, notably in the port and the Azovstal Metallurgy plant, respectively.
- Ukrainian forces continued to repel daily Russian assaults in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.
- A Russian Tochka-U missile struck a civilian evacuation point at the Kramatorsk rail station in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 50 and wounding around a hundred evacuees.
- Russian forces continued attacks south of Izyum toward Slovyansk and Barvinkove but did not take any new territory.
- Ukrainian counterattacks have likely taken further territory west of Kherson, threatening Russian control of the city.
#Mariupol Update:#Ukrainian forces continued to hold out against #Russian assaults in areas of southwestern and eastern Mariupol, notably in the port and the Azovstal Metallurgy plant, respectively. https://t.co/q2yWXZGFBW pic.twitter.com/D6yKmN9B5m
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) April 8, 2022
Zelenskiy says railway station strike must be in future war crime tribunal
Here is a recap of the comments made by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his late-night address on Friday. Zelenskiy referred to the missile strike on a railway station in eastern Ukraine as a Russian war crime and said it must be one of the charges to feature at any future tribunal.
At least 52 people were killed, including five children, when a missile hit Kramatorsk railway station on Friday. The US has also blamed Russia, saying it believes it used a short-range ballistic missile. Russia has denied responsibility.
Zelenskiy said he expected “a firm, global response”.
“Like the massacre in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile strike on Kramatorsk must be one of the charges at the tribunal, which is bound to happen,” he said.
“All the efforts of the world will be aimed to establish every minute: who did what, who gave orders. Where did the rocket come from, who was carrying it, who gave the order and how the strike was coordinated,” he said.
Zelenskiy also repeated his call for more weapons to be provided to Ukraine, and for greater sanctions to be imposed on Russia.
“The pressure on Russia must be increased. It is necessary to introduce a full energy embargo – on oil, on gas. It is energy exports that provide the lion’s share of Russia’s profits. Russian banks must also be completely disconnected from the global financial system,” he said.
Zelenskiy added that Ukraine had provided details of the military equipment it requires.
“Any delay in providing such weapons to Ukraine, any excuses, can mean only one thing: the relevant politicians want to help the Russian leadership more than us Ukrainians,” he said.
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Hello, it’s Rebecca Ratcliffe with you as we continue our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here are the latest developments:
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described a missile strike on a railway station in eastern Ukraine as a Russian war crime and called for a “firm global response”. At least 52 people, including five children, were killed in the missile strike on Kramatorsk train station. The US believes Russia used a short range ballistic missile on the train station. Russia has denied responsibility.
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Two UN agencies have called for “urgent action” to help an estimated 1,000 seafarers stranded in Ukrainian ports and waters with dwindling supplies.
Some 6,665 civilians were evacuated through humanitarian corridors on Friday, the majority of them rescued from Mariupol and Berdiansk. - Russian troops have “forcibly deported” more than 600,000 Ukrainians, including about 121,000 children, to Russia, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Lyudmila Denysova, said. Denysova also said residents of the temporarily occupied city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region are being forcibly moved to Russia.
- Some Russian military units have experienced major losses, a senior US defence official said, and the Pentagon estimates Russia’s combat power is between 80% and 85% of pre-invasion levels. The US defence department is expecting Russia to shift its focus to Donbas and eastern Ukraine.
- International prices for food commodities, including grains and vegetable oils, reached all time highs in March amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. The conflict was causing massive disruptions, the UN said on Friday, threatening millions of people in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere with hunger and malnourishment.
- The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, pledged to offer Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a speedier start to his country’s bid to become a member of the EU. At a joint press conference with Zelenskiy, Von der Leyen said: “It will not as usual be a matter of years to form this opinion but I think a matter of weeks.”
- Forensic investigators have begun exhuming a mass grave in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, wrapping in black plastic and laying out the bodies of civilians who officials say were killed during the Russian invasion. Since Russian troops pulled back from Bucha last week, Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians have been found dead.
- Russia’s justice ministry has revoked the registration of 15 foreign organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The ministry said in a statement that the Russian units of the organisations “were excluded due to the discovery of violations of the current legislation of the Russian Federation”.
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