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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Rebecca Ratcliffe, Vivian Ho, Clea Skopeliti and Helen Livingstone

Zelenskiy says peace talks will be suspended if Mariupol defenders killed – as it happened

Ukraine United States Volodymyr Zelenksyy Moldova Moscow United Kingdom Rustam Minnekayev António Guterres Boris Johnson Serhiy

President Joe Biden has said unity among Ukraine’s allies has sent a strong message to Russia: that it will “never succeed” in dominating all of Ukraine.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday, the most senior US officials to visit Kyiv since the war began.

AFP has published some analysis on what medium and long-term objectives Russia is likely pursuing.

It asks: how far will Russia go in new phase of Ukraine assault?

In March, the Russian army said it was focusing on the two Donbas regions, Donetsk and Lugansk where pro-Russian rebels have been active since 2014.

On Friday, Russian Major General Rustam Minnekaev was quoted as saying that “one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine”, adding this would provide “a land corridor to Crimea”, the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

But this ambition brings challenges, according to Michel Goya, a former French army colonel.

“The deeper Russian forces go into Ukraine, the more vulnerable they are,” he said on Twitter.

Pascal Ausseur, director of the FMES strategic studies institute, said the Russian army may well be hoping to establish an axis running from Kherson on the banks of the Dnipro River, to the city of the the same name to the north and then to Izyum in the east.

Experts no longer believe Russia has any designs on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

“They realised that the Blitzkrieg option didn’t work out,” said Ausseur. “So they returned to the traditional Soviet bulldozer model: If you can’t break the will of your enemies, you grind them down.”

“They will Mariupol-ise the operation,” Ausseur said.

While Western aid to Ukraine has been boosted, armoured personnel vehicles could take weeks or months to arrive, AFP says.

Few observers now expect the conflict to be over soon. Alexander Khramchikhin, of the Moscow-based Institute for Political and Military Analysis, said the fighting could even go on for years.

“Russia has so far achieved none of its objectives, and it’s not easy to see how it will achieve them in the future,” he told AFP.

Updated

Yuriy Ignat, a Ukrainian air force spokesman, said Ukraine shot down three Russian planes, five missiles and nine drones over the past 24 hours, reports the Kyiv Independent.

Here are some images from across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

Residents stand covered by blankets next to their houses damaged by Russian shelling in Odesa, Ukraine, Saturday, April 23, 2022. Ukrainian officials reported that Russia fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, killing five people.
Residents stand covered by blankets next to their houses damaged by Russian shelling in Odesa, Ukraine, Saturday, April 23, 2022. Ukrainian officials reported that Russia fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, killing five people. Photograph: Max Pshybyshevsky/AP
Russian invasion of Ukraineepa09905496 Children play with giant soap bubbles, in the city of Leopolis, Ukraine, 23 April 2022. Russian troops entered Ukraine on 24 February resulting in fighting and destruction in the country and triggering a series of severe economic sanctions on Russia by Western countries. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ
Children play with giant soap bubbles, in the city of Leopolis, Ukraine. Photograph: Miguel Gutiérrez/EPA
A school classroom dusty and deserted after the bombing in Shevchenkove, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A school classroom dusty and deserted after the bombing in Shevchenkove. Photograph: Vincenzo Circosta/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
Friends and family attend funeral services for Mark Bobrovytsky, 59, Halyna Bobrovytskyi, 59, and Maksym Bobrovytsky, 25 at a cemetery in Borodyanka, Ukriane on Saturday, April 23, 2022. They died in they apartment in Borodyanka after a Russian air strike.
Friends and family attend funeral services for Mark Bobrovytsky, 59, Halyna Bobrovytskyi, 59, and Maksym Bobrovytsky, 25 at a cemetery in Borodyanka, Ukriane on Saturday, April 23, 2022. They died in they apartment in Borodyanka after a Russian air strike. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/UPI/REX/Shutterstock

At 10pm in the Odesa region, Ukrainian military shot down two more Russian cruise missiles, according to Ukraine’s Air Command “South”. The missiles were launched from the Black Sea by a Russian ship, it said.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will visit Turkey on Monday before travelling to Moscow and Kyiv, the UN said.

Guterres will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has hosted peace negotiations, before visiting Moscow on Tuesday to visit Russian President Vladmir Putin.

On Thursday, Guterres will travel to Kyiv.

Zelenskiy likens Russian 'filtration camps' to Nazi concentration camps

Volodymyr Zelenskiy used his evening address to describe Russia as a terrorist state and liken its actions in Mariupol to those of the Nazis.

Speaking on Saturday night in a video message posted on Facebook, Zelenskiy said those responsible for atrocities would be held to account. He referred to missile strike in Odesa on Saturday which killed 8 people, including a three-month old baby girl.

“How did she threaten Russia? It seems that killing children is just a new national idea of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskiy said. The missiles were launched by Russian strategic aircraft from the Caspian Sea region, he added. Ukraine managed to shoot down two missiles, but five more missiles hit the city.

“We will identify all those responsible for this strike.... Everyone who gives these orders, everyone who fulfils these orders. No matter how long it takes us, all these bastards will be responsible for every death they caused,” he said.

He added that new information continued to emerge regarding crimes by Russian forces against Mariupol residents. “New graves of people killed by the occupiers are being found. We are talking about tens of thousands of dead Mariupol residents. Negotiations of the occupiers on how they conceal the traces of their crimes are recorded,” he said.

Zelenskiy said Russia was continuing the activites of “filtration camps”, where Russian forces are sending Ukrainian citizens, before forcibly relocating them to Russia.

“The honest name for them is in fact different, concentration camps. Like those built by the Nazies in the past. Ukrainians from these camps, the survivors, are sent further into the occupied territories and to Russia,” he said. “They also deport children hoping that they will forget where there home is and where they are from.”

Zelenskiy said Russia’s actions were enough to show the world that the Russian army was a terrorist organisaiton.

He had spoken to UK prime minister Boris Johnson on Saturday, he said, thanking him for support, and was now preparing to meet US representatives.

Updated

The Ukrainian president has praised Britain’s efforts in training his military amid accusations the UK blocked requests to strengthen Kyiv’s defences after Russia’s first strike eight years ago, reports PA Media.

Here is further detail from PA Media’s report:

Volodymyr Zelensky told a press conference in Kyiv that the UK, along with the US, was supplying the “biggest military aid” in its struggle against Moscow’s invading forces.

This comes as a former defence secretary accused previous Downing Street operations of being reluctant to support Kyiv in the aftermath of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s annexing of Crimea in 2014.

Michael Fallon told The Sunday Times that, when serving under former Conservative prime minister David Cameron, he was told to turn down requests for assistance in upgrading Ukraine’s defences despite the Ministry of Defence wanting “to do more”.

“We were stymied and we were blocked in Cabinet from sending the Ukrainians the arms they needed,” Mr Fallon told the newspaper.

“Some in the Cabinet felt extremely strongly that we should do nothing to further provoke Russia.

“I felt that was absurd. The Russians didn’t need any provoking. They were already there, sending people across the border.”

In the run-up to and during the current incursion, London has emerged as one of Ukraine’s closest allies in terms of supplying Nato-class weapons.

Updated

The US-based Institute for the Study of War has released its latest analysis, warning that Russian forces will likely increase the scale of ground offensive operations in the coming days, “but it is too soon to tell how fast they will do so or how large those offensives will be.”

It predicts that Russia will likely continue attacking southeast from Izyum, west from Kreminna and Popasna, and north from Donetsk City via Avdiivka or another axis. Russian forces will attempt to starve out the remaining defenders of the Azovstal Steel Plant in Mariupol and will not allow trapped civilians to evacuate, it adds.

Here are the key takeaways from ISW’s assessment released on Friday evening:

1. “Russian forces continued their pressure on the Azovstal facility in Mariupol.

2. Russian troops drawn from the retreat from Kyiv are re-entering combat in eastern Ukraine.

3. Russian forces from around Mariupol are redeploying to the vicinity of Donetsk City and are likely to enter combat again soon and without rest or refit.

4. Russia continued conducting small-scale ground offensives at multiple points along the front from Izyum to Zaporizhia Obla.”

Updated

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised a decision by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to visit Moscow on Tuesday, before heading to Kyiv, reports AFP.

“It is simply wrong to go first to Russia and then to Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters in the Ukraine capital. “There is no justice and no logic in this order,” he added.

“The war is in Ukraine, there are no bodies in the streets of Moscow. It would be logical to go first to Ukraine, to see the people there, the consequences of the occupation,” he said.

Guterres is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, then visit Zelensky on Thursday.

Guterres has had little contact with either leader. Putin has refused to meet with Guterres after he accused Russia of violating the UN charter by sending troops into Ukraine.

This is Rebecca Ratcliffe, taking over from my colleague Vivian Ho.

Summary of recent developments

It’s 2am in Ukraine.

  • President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held a press conference today in an underground subway station, speaking at length about possible peace negotiations with Russia and announcing that US defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, will travel to Kyiv to meet with him on Sunday.
  • Zelenskiy made clear that if Russia kills any Mariupol defenders or goes forward with the independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine will suspend peace negotiations with Moscow.
  • Zelenskiy got emotional speaking about the earlier missile attack on Odesa that injured 18 and killed eight, including a three-month-old baby, her mother and her grandmother.
  • The United Kingdom’s ministry of defense has released an intelligence update detailing accusations that Russia is planning to conscript Ukrainian civilians in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
  • A number of special monitoring mission staff members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been detained in Donetsk and Luhansk.
  • It’s Orthodox Easter weekend and many Ukrainians cannot celebrate the way they have in years past. But Vladimir Putin marked the high holiday alongside Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin by attending a midnight Easter mass put on by the Russian Orthodox Church - a move that drew ire from many in Ukraine.

A heartbreaking story out of Kharkiv today, which experienced a number of missile strikes:

Vladimir Putin is celebrating Orthodox Easter alongside Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin by attending a midnight Easter mass put on by the Russian Orthodox Church. In Ukraine, many are furious at the hypocrisy of Putin going to church to mark the high holiday while continuing to commit acts of war and killing thousands.

Updated

With war still going on around them, Ukrainians had to mark Orthodox Easter weekend differently this year - but some made an effort all the same, coming out for a blessing on Holy Saturday.

A Ukrainian priest blesses believers as they collect traditional cakes and painted eggs prepared for an Easter celebration in Lviv, Ukraine.
A Ukrainian priest blesses believers as they collect traditional cakes and painted eggs prepared for an Easter celebration in Lviv, Ukraine. Photograph: Mykola Tys/AP
Ukrainian believers attend an Orthodox Easter mass with baskets of painted eggs and kulichi, a traditional Easter cake, in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Ukrainian believers attend an Orthodox Easter mass with baskets of painted eggs and kulichi, a traditional Easter cake, in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Sergey Kozlov/EPA
Ukrainian believers attend an Orthodox Easter mass with baskets of painted eggs and kulichi, a traditional Easter cake, in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv amid the Russian invasion.
Ukrainian believers attend an Orthodox Easter mass with baskets of painted eggs and kulichi, a traditional Easter cake, in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv amid the Russian invasion. Photograph: Sergey Kozlov/EPA

Updated

A three-month-old baby, Kira, and her mother, Valeriia Hlodan, were among the eight killed today in a missile strike in Odesa.

In a social media post in February, just before the invasion, the mother wrote about experiencing “a whole new level of happiness” with her little girl receiving her first flowers from her daddy.

The killing of the baby led president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to say during today’s press conference: “They killed a three-month-old baby. The war started when this baby was one month old. Can you even imagine what is happening? They are just bastards. Just bastards. I don’t have any other words to use in this context. They are just bastards.”

Updated

Tomorrow marks not just the two-month anniversary for the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also Eastern Orthodox Easter. As Russian airstrikes continue, many Ukrainians will not be able to observe the high holiday as they have in years past.

Read about how Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw marked the holiday away from home:

A number of special monitoring mission staff members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been detained in eastern Ukraine, the organization said Saturday.

Reuters is reporting that the world’s largest regional security organization said that “a number” of special monitoring mission staff members “have been deprived of their liberty in Donetsk and Luhansk.”

“The OSCE is using all available channels to facilitate the release of its staff,” its media office said in response to a query, giving no more details.

In addition to the detained staff members, Deirdre Brown, Britain’s deputy ambassador to the OSCE, said she has received “alarming reports that Russia’s proxies in Donbas are threatening mission staff, equipment and premises.”

The organization said in March that it had evacuated nearly 500 international mission members from Ukraine. The special monitoring mission moved to an administrative role as of 1 April, the organization said, to ensure the safety of its members and assets throughout Ukraine, including in areas not under government control. The special monitoring mission continues to assist national staff in Ukraine to relocate to safer areas.

“Contacts with national mission members continue on a daily basis, including in order to ascertain their whereabouts and assist them, to the extent possible, should they decide to re-locate,” the organization said.

The United Kingdom’s ministry of defense has released an intelligence update detailing accusations that Russia is planning to conscript Ukrainian civilians in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

This would follow similar practices in the Russian-occupied Crimea and Donbas regions.

“Any enlistment of Ukrainian civilians into the Russian armed forces, even if presented by Russia as being voluntary or military service in accordance with Russian law, would constitute a violation of article 51 of the fourth Geneva Convention,” the ministry of defense tweeted.

Earlier today, UK prime minister Boris Johnson said that the UK government was continuing to help collect evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.

Video filmed by Ukrainian soldiers of women and children begging for help in the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol was widely circulated today. Here is some of the footage of the children, with English subtitles:

“We have been playing on the phone, but we want to go home. We want to see the sun,” one child said.

Seven missiles struck Odesa today in southern Ukraine, killing eight people - including a three-month-old baby – and injuring 18 more, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

The attack, and the killing of the baby brought Zelenskiy to high emotion during today’s press conference: “They killed a three-month-old baby,” he said. “The war started when this baby was one month old. Can you even imagine what is happening? They are just bastards. Just bastards. I don’t have any other words to use in this context. They are just bastards.”

Here’s a look at some of the devastation left behind:

Emergency service workers rescue people after a missile strike in Odesa Oblast
Emergency service workers rescue people after a missile strike on Saturday, in Odesa Oblast. Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine In Odesa Oblast/Reuters
Emergency service workers rescue people after a missile strike, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in Odesa Oblast.
Emergency service workers rescue people after a missile strike, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in Odesa Oblast. Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine In Odesa Oblast/Reuters
An apartment building damaged after Russian shelling in Odesa, Ukraine, Saturday, April 23, 2022. Ukrainian officials reported that Russia fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, killing five people. (AP Photo/Max Pshybyshevsky)
An apartment building damaged after Russian shelling. Ukrainian officials reported that Russia fired at least six cruise missiles at the Black Sea port city of Odesa, killing five people. Photograph: Max Pshybyshevsky/AP
Emergency service workers rescue people after a missile strike, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in Odesa Oblast.
Emergency service workers rescue people after a missile strike, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in Odesa Oblast. Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine In Odesa Oblast/Reuters

Updated

Tomorrow marks two months since the war began. Volodymyr Zelenskiy took a moment to say he was proud to be the leader of Ukraine and that the most important thing was that the country continues to deploy its no. 1 weapon: its unity.

“Ukraine has done everything, everything, truly I believe that. We are so united,” he said. “The most important thing is that this feeling of unity remains through the end of the war.”

When asked further about tomorrow’s visit with US defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had a “pragmatic answer”.

“They should not come here with empty hands. We’re expecting specific things and specific weapons,” he said.

He continued: “It’s the same I’ve been saying with leaders of other countries…we appeal to all leaders that there is a real war here. Come to us, we’ll be happy to see you, but please, bring to us the assistance which we discussed, which you have, which you have the opportunity to bring.”

Joe Biden this week approved a second $800m military assistance package that includes equipment specifically for defending the Donbas region.

Updated

It’s unclear if Volodymyr Zelenskiy may have revealed information that US officials possibly didn’t want out, for security reasons, when he announced at today’s press conference that he will be meeting in Kyiv on Sunday with US defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken, US secretary of state.

He said once security was cleared, Joe Biden would be going to Ukraine to meet with him as well - something the White House has not committed to in recent weeks, most likely once again for security reasons.

Updated

Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Russian people need to accept responsibility for their role in the conflict as well.

“Any person who wants to know the truth can find it. Any person who wants to understand what is going around should not hide away,” Zelenskiy said. “When we are not sitting on our hands and just staring at Russian propaganda television and then when we go outside, we close our eyes and walk on the territory of Russia, this doesn’t work. This cannot be so...there are such people in Russia and there need to be more and more such people.”

“They should accept that they are guilty - their authorities are guilty - but they elected these authorities,” he said. “They cannot say, ‘I have nothing to do with this.’ They should be able to say that they feel themselves citizens of Russia and they feel this responsibility.”

Zelenskiy compared living in Russia to like living in a computer game.

“Living in the Russian federation is like living in virtual reality,” he said. “It’s like in a computer game. Get out of it. Take off these 3D goggles. Come back to the reality, to the civilized world. This world is beautiful.”

Volodymyr Zelenskiy had strong words about the missile attack on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa today that killed at least eight and injured 18.

He said seven missiles struck Odesa today.

“A three-month-old baby died,” Zelenskiy said. “They killed a three-month-old baby. The war started when this baby was one month old. Can you even imagine what is happening? They are just bastards. Just bastards. I don’t have any other words to use in this context. They are just bastards.”

Updated

The United Kingdom will be reopening its embassy in Kyiv, in addition to providing further military aid and issuing new sanctions against members of the Russian military.

US top diplomat and defense secretary to travel to Kyiv

Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet in Kyiv with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, on Sunday.

Updated

Zelenskiy: Ukraine will suspend peace negotiations if Russia holds sham referendum

Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that should Russia kill any Mariupol defenders or go forward with the independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine will suspend peace negotiations with Moscow.

“If our people are killed in Mariupol, if they announce a pseudo-referendum in the new pseudo-republics, Ukraine will not take part in any negotiation processes,” Zelenskiy said.

He continued by saying that going forward with a referendum “will not be useful for the diplomatic settlement of this situation”.

“It will interfere with the end of war in the diplomatic way,” he said. “This is definitely the wrong step from Russia. It bears witness that everything before that, all of the meetings of the diplomatic groups, all of that was just fiction and political theatre, by the way, with very bad actors.”

Read more about the planned independence vote here:

Updated

In a display of “the show must go on” resiliency, Volodymyr Zelenskiy is holding his press conference in an underground subway station. Earlier, he paused to listen to the last train of the day. “God forbid that it is the last one. Just for today, right?” he said. “Let’s listen to the underground.”

Updated

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has fielded a few questions about whether he was fearful of meeting with Vladimir Putin, given that members of an informal Russian-Ukrainian negotiating group had suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning.

Zelenskiy called these “attempted murders”, and said his security team and his family were concerned about them, but he could not be.

“I’m not afraid of meeting with the president, or the attempted murders,” he said. “I don’t have the right to be afraid because our people have shown that they’re not afraid of anything. They are afraid for their children, that’s true, but people were stopping tanks with their bare hands.”

Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke more about potential peace negotiations with Russia:

“Our partners, both European and our partners beyond the ocean, the United States and Canada - everybody sees that what Russia says and what Russia has been saying all this time is that Ukraine itself does not want a seat at the negotiation table to end the war,” Zelenskiy said. “Everybody could see that it has a kind of piling-up effect. Now, if we manage to do that, our trust for our partners, is at the highest level. But there is not trust with Russia.”

He continued: “Those are not synonyms. They are antonyms, Russia and trust. They are just saying something and their words do not coincide with actions.”

Updated

Asked whether he still wants a meeting with Vladimir Putin and whether he thinks a meeting would be useful, Zelenskiy says: “I’ve insisted since the very beginning to have negotiations with the leader of the Russian Federation because I consider that [any meetings through mediators]... will not give the desired effect.

“This war can be stopped by the one who began it.”

Zelenskiy to hold press conference

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is due to hold a press conference and take questions from the media at 5.30pm GMT.

Watch a live stream of the event at the top of the page and follow here for updates.

Updated

Zelenskiy and Johnson discuss 'new phase' of military aid

Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has spoken with British prime minister, Boris Johnson, about a “new phase” of military aid, the president’s deputy chief of staff has said.

Speaking on national television on Saturday, Andriy Sybiga said the latest assistance would include the provision of heavy weapons.

He added that the two had also talked about further financial support for Ukraine.

Updated

Summary of recent developments

Here’s a summary of the latest developments in Ukraine, where the time is just after 6pm.

  • The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is “only a beginning” and that Moscow has designs on capturing other countries after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine.
  • Russian forces have resumed airstrikes on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where Ukraine’s remaining troops in the city are holding out, Ukrainian presidential adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, has said.
  • A video has emerged showing women and children in Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant saying they are “running out of strength” and need to be urgently evacuated to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
  • A civilian evacuation planned from Mariupol on Saturday did not go forward, an aide to the besieged city’s mayor has said. The official blamed Russia for the failure of the evacuation effort, which was meant to begin around midday local time.
  • More than 300 people, including 90 children, were forcibly deported to Russia from Mariupol, the adviser to the city’s mayor has claimed.
  • Five people have been killed and eighteen injured in a missile strike in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Saturday, the president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said.
  • Two Russian generals have been killed near Kherson, the Ukrainian ministry of defence’s intelligence directorate has said. Another is in critical condition.

Updated

Two Russian generals killed near Kherson – Ukrainian ministry of defence

Two Russian generals have been killed near Kherson, the Ukrainian ministry of defence’s intelligence directorate has said. Another is in critical condition.

The Ukrainian military on Friday hit the command post of Russia’s 49th army near occupied regional capital Kherson, according to the statement.

Updated

Five people have been killed and eighteen injured in a missile strike in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Saturday, the president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said.

In an earlier statement reported by Reuters, Ukraine’s air command said that two missiles struck a military facility and two residential buildings in Odesa. Air defence destroyed two other missiles that were also targeting the city, according to its online statement.

Updated

Mariupol's evacuation did not take place - mayor's aide

The civilian evacuation planned from Mariupol on Saturday did not take place, an aide to the besieged city’s mayor has said.

The official blamed Russia for the failure of the evacuation effort. He said that while 200 residents of Mariupol had gathered to be evacuated, the Russian military told them to disperse and warned of possible shelling.

The evacuation was meant to begin at midday local time, according to Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

However, she said the evacuation would proceed “if all went well” and warned that Russian forces “may be trying to organize their own corridor for evacuation to Russia”. Hundreds of Mariupol residents are reported to have been forcibly deported to Russia since the invasion began.

Efforts to evacuate civilians from cities under seige, including Mariupol, have repeatedly collapsed.

Updated

Women and children beg for help in video from besieged Azovstal

Women and children in Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant say they are “running out of strength” and need to be urgently evacuated to Ukrainian-controlled territory, according to footage which has emerged from the factory.

In the video, which was filmed on Thursday, an unnamed woman says that food and water have almost run out, with people “on the edge of hunger”.

All the provisions we brought with us are running out. Soon we won’t even have enough food for the children.

We are here and need help. We are at the epicentre of events and we can’t get out. My child needs to be evacuated to a peaceful area and others too. We beg for guarantees of safety for our kids.”

Updated

More than 300 people, including 90 children, were forcibly deported to Russia from Mariupol, the adviser to the city’s mayor has claimed.

In a post to Telegram, Petro Andryushchenko said that 308 people were taken to Vladivostok on 21 April. Vladivostok is more than 9,000km east of Mariupol.

The statement, which was reported by the Kyiv Independent, follows other reports of hundreds of Mariupol residents being forcibly moved to Russia. Ukrainian citizens have described being sent to “filtration camps” before being forcibly relocated to Russia.

Updated

Russia has shelled a Ukrainian border post in the north of Ukraine, the country’s border guard service said.

In a statement posted online, the agency said that around 10 grenades had exploded near the village of Senkivka in the Chernihiv region on Friday night.

Chernihiv is situated near where the Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian borders meet.

The statement said the grenades had been fired by a launcher from Russian territory, and that it was the fourth time the area had been shelled since Russian forces withdrew from the region.

It added that no border guards were injured in the strike.

Updated

A missile has struck infrastructure in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, local authorities said.

A statement posted online said the strike occurred on Saturday, though gave no further details.

“Odesa was hit by a missile strike. Infrastructure has been hit,” it read.

Odesa is situated on the Black Sea on Ukraine’s southern coast and has been a key target of Russian forces since the beginning of the invasion.

The UK Ministry of Defence has published its latest intelligence update, with a map showing Russian movements as Moscow focuses its offensive on Ukraine’s east:

Updated

Governors in regions in eastern Ukraine have described “fierce” fighting with Russian forces.

The governor of the eastern Kharkiv region, Oleg Sinegubov, said on Telegram that Kyiv regained control of three villages near the Russian border following “fierce battles”.

“Our units kicked Russian troops out of the settlements of Bezruki, Slatine, Prudyanka,” he said, adding that the Ukrainian forced “secured their positions”.

He said the battles took place on Friday morning, and claimed that Russian forces had attacked residential buildings, killing two people.

Meanwhile the governor of neighbouring Luhansk, Sergiy Gaiday, said there was constant shelling. “There is round-the-clock shelling,” Gaiday said, adding that Russian forces “continue to attack” the cities of Rubizhne and Severodonetsk.

He called on people to “evacuate if you have the chance”, saying volunteers are helping people leave the area.

Updated

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is just the beginning and that Moscow may seek to seize other countries after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine.

Updated

New airstrikes on Mariupol steel plant

Russian forces have resumed airstrikes on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where Ukraine’s remaining troops in the city are holding out, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych has said.

Speaking on national television, Arestovych also said that Russian forces are attempting to storm Azovstal.

The enemy is trying to strangle the final resistance of the defenders of Mariupol in the Azovstal area,” Arestovych said.

The development follows a change in tactics on Thursday, when Vladimir Putin called instead for troops to blockade the area “so that a fly can’t get through”.

Updated

On TikTok, videos under hashtags such as #RussianLivesMatter have hundreds of millions of views. The folk song Katyusha makes regular appearances, with videos of users juxtaposed with images of Putin, Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov or even Jesus, captioned: “Who will help the Russians?” or holding their Russian passports to the camera, with the caption: “I hope my position is clear.”

Diyora Shadijanova reports on the young social media influencers creating propaganda about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A senior Russian military commander said Moscow plans a permanent occupation of Ukrainian territory taken in the war, leading Volodymyr Zelenskiy to warn that Russia’s invasion of his country is just the beginning.

Rustam Minnekayev, the acting commander of the central military district, said Russia was now aiming to seize control of southern Ukraine and form a land bridge to Crimea.

Below are two maps showing the latest developments in Russia’s offensive.

Russian troops continued their offensive along the frontline in Luhansk and Donetsk on Friday:

Updated

More from the Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk on the Mariupol evacuation, which will be evacuating civilians towards Zaporizhzhia.

Earlier this morning, Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram:

I appeal to our citizens who are preparing for the evacuation today. We have just received information that the occupiers may be trying to organize their own corridor for evacuation to Russia in parallel with us.

So, please be careful and vigilant. Do not succumb to deception and provocation.”

She said the Ukrainian corridor would lead exclusively towards Zaporizhzhia (via Mangush, Berdyansk, Tokmak, Orikhiv).

Updated

Reuters has this line on Russia’s plans to arm its military with nuclear-capable ballistic Sarmat missiles:

Russia plans to deploy the first military unit armed with nuclear-capable ballistic Sarmat missiles no later than this autumn, Tass news agency reported on Saturday citing Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency.

The unit will be based in Uzhur, in the Krasnoyarsk region, about 3,000km (1,860 miles) east of Moscow, Tass quoted him as saying in an interview with the state Rossiya 24 TV channel.

The missile, a new addition to Russia’s nuclear arsenal, was tested this week. The Pentagon said Russia had properly notified it ahead of its test launch, and that the test was routine.

Updated

Russia’s defence ministry has said that its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three MI-8 helicopters at an airfield in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to Reuters.

Ukraine has not yet responded to the Russian claim.

Vladimir Putin’s “nuclear blackmail” following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is likely to cause a rise in global demand for nuclear weapons, a Russia expert and former White House intelligence adviser has said.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Fiona Hill, a former deputy assistant to the president during the Trump administration said:

The nuclear issue is something that everybody should be concerned about on a global basis because he (Putin) is basically telling every country: You need a nuclear weapon.

So the whole idea of non-proliferation is basically out the window because it is basically very clear that the reason we are not going after Russia with everything that we’ve got is because they’ve got a nuclear weapon and he is saying he’s prepared to use one.”

Hill said that the war will have made some nations set on obtaining nuclear arms as they realise that they “can’t rely on someone else coming to my assistance”, marking Japan and South Korea out as examples of countries that may be rethinking their non-nuclear position.

So we are in a whole new territory that we haven’t even been in during the cold war, and so this requires really robust diplomacy.”

Updated

Ukrainian artists are finally able to speak to the world for the whole nation and create values that will be passed down for many years to come. The horrific events that Ukrainians have encountered, through art, are now taking shape.”

Lorenzo Tondo speaks to the Ukrainians resisting through art:

Shelling has intensified in the Ukrainian-controlled cities in the Luhansk region, the region’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, has said.

Reuters reports that he said Ukrainian forces were leaving some settlements there in order to regroup, but that this did not amount to a critical setback. Russia denies targeting civilian areas.

Updated

Mariupol evacuations to begin at midday

Reuters has this update about the possibility of a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Mariupol today:

Ukrainian deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that “if all goes well” evacuation will begin at noon local time (10am BST).

“Today, we again will be trying to evacuate women, children and the elderly,” Vereshchuk wrote in a social media post.

Updated

Hopes for a brief pause in fighting to celebrate Orthodox Easter have faded as talks between Moscow and Kyiv stalled, with Russia saying it aimed to take over the country’s east and south.

Ukrainian authorities have vowed to drive out the occupying forces, but also sought an Easter truce, AFP reports.

“Unfortunately, Russia rejected the proposal to establish an Easter truce,” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

The war, which enters its third month on Sunday, has entered a second phase after a senior Russian military officer, Major General Rustam Minnekaev, outlined Moscow’s ambitions, saying: “One of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine.”

In his regular Friday night address, Zelenskiy said the Minnekaev’s comments clearly articulated Moscow’s ambitions.

“This only confirms what I have already said multiple times: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning,” he said. “We will defend ourselves as long as possible... but all the nations who, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us.”

Updated

Here’s a bit more from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s address last night, in which he said life was beginning to return to normal in parts of Ukraine that had been liberated from Russian forces.

If at the beginning of this week de-mining took place in 70 settlements, today 184 settlements have been de-mined. Of course, much remains to be done. But the pace, I think, is pretty good.

Humanitarian headquarters are already operating in more than 500 de-occupied settlements. Almost 100 settlements are added daily, to which we return medical and educational services, the work of social protection bodies, financial institutions.

We are restoring transport connections at a fairly fast pace. Plus 96 settlements today, where the transport connection was returned. Plus 183 settlements where gas stations have resumed work. Plus 90 settlements where electricity was restored. We return water supply, gas supply, mobile connection.

He also said he believed that such a return to normalcy could take place in southern and eastern Ukraine, where Russia is currently concentrating its forces: “In all areas where degradation, destruction and death have been brought under the Russian flag.”

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy with European Council president Charles Michel in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, with the European Council president, Charles Michel, in Kyiv. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters

Updated

Some recent images from Mariupol, from where Ukraine deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has said that “there is a possibility” a humanitarian corridor could be opened to allow the evacuation of civilians on Saturday.

A man walks past damaged buildings in Mariupol.
A man walks past damaged buildings in Mariupol. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
Maria Miroshnichenko, 84, a former social services worker, stands outside a heavily damaged residential building in Mariupol.
Maria Miroshnichenko, 84, a former social services worker, stands outside a heavily damaged residential building in Mariupol. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
Damaged and burned vehicles are seen at a destroyed part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, as smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol.
Damaged and burned vehicles are seen at a destroyed part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works Metallurgical Plant, as smoke rises from the Metallurgical Combine Azovstal in Mariupol. Photograph: Alexei Alexandrov/AP
Barriers made of vehicles on a road in Mariupol.
Barriers made of vehicles on a road in Mariupol. Photograph: Chingis Kondarov/Reuters
Varta, 81, from Mariupol, in the back of her family’s car after a four-day journey to an evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia for people fleeing from Mariupol, Melitopol and surrounding towns under Russian control.
Varta, 81, from Mariupol, in the back of her family’s car after a four-day journey to an evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia for people fleeing from Mariupol, Melitopol and surrounding towns under Russian control. Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Updated

“Heavy fighting” continues to take place in Mariupol, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update, despite Russia’s “stated conquest” of the southern port city.

The fighting was “frustrating Russian attempts to capture the city thus further slowing their desired progress in the Donbas,” it said.

“Despite increased activity, Russian forces have made no major gains in the last 24 hours as Ukrainian counter-attacks continue to hinder their efforts,” it added.

“Russian air and maritime forces have not established control in either domain owing to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air and sea defence reducing their ability to make notable progress.”

Many people around the world have been surprised at how Ukraine has withstood Russia’s attack on its territory, even successfully repelling its assault on the capital, Kyiv. Guardian reporters Isobel Koshiw, Ed Ram and Dan Sabbagh report here on the bravery of Ukraine’s armed forces and their determination to fight:

A group of Ukrainian infantry soldiers stood in a warehouse in south-western Ukraine when they were shelled by Russian artillery. Serhiy was hit in the face with shrapnel. He and his recent best friend Hennadiy took a selfie clutching part of the shell which did not hit them.

Moments later, Russian tanks appeared on a hill opposite and fired across the village in front of them, including at the warehouse. Hennadiy and the rest of the group – all natives of the Zaporizhzhia region – were also hit by shrapnel and all of them suffered hearing damage.

“They had three tanks on the hill and they were just shooting down at us. We just had rifles,” said Hennadiy. “We had some equipment that the Americans and Poles gave us, but it wasn’t enough to fight.”

They said they escaped from the warehouse under plumes of smoke and walked to the next village, from where they were taken to the Zaporizhzhia military hospital.

The Guardian was granted access to the military hospital to speak to soldiers on the condition that reporters not identify specific locations of battles or publish the full names of soldiers interviewed.

“There are plenty of people motivated to fight,” said Serhiy, speaking from a hospital ward with the rest of the company who escaped from the warehouse. “But we are underarmed and desperately trying to hold the whole mass [of the Russian army].”

“There’s also just not enough time to train everyone who wants to fight,” added Dmytro, another member of the company, who was lying on a bed in the ward.

Read on below:

Russian invasion of Ukraine only 'a beginning', Zelenskiy warns

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is only the beginning and comments by a senior Russian commander on Friday indicate Moscow will attack other countries too, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned in his latest nightly address.

This only confirms what I have said many times: the Russian invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning, then they want to capture other countries

Rustam Minnekayev, acting commander of Russia’s central military district, said on Friday that Russia’s new goal was to gain control of southern Ukraine, giving it access to Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova.

In Moldova, Zelenskiy noted, Russia has claimed that the rights of Russian speakers have been violated.

Although, to be honest, the territory in which Russia should take care of the rights of Russian-speakers is Russia itself. Where there is no freedom of speech, no freedom of choice. Where there is simply no right to dissent. Where poverty thrives and where human life is worthless. To the extent that they come to us, go to war to steal at least something that resembles a normal life.

You know they used to talk about their biggest dream: to see Paris and die. And their behavior is now just shocking. Because their dream now is to steal the toilet and die.

Moldova expressed “deep concern” following Minnekayev’s comments and summoned the Russian ambassador.

These statements are unfounded and contradict the position of the Russian Federation supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova, within its internationally recognized borders,” Moldova’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In a meeting with Russian ambassador Oleg Vasnetov, the ministry “reiterated that the Republic of Moldova, in line with its Constitution, is a neutral state and this principle must be respected by all international actors, including the Russian Federation,” it continued.

Roundup of latest developments

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the latest developments in Ukraine with me, Helen Livingstone.

Here’s a summary of the latest developments in Ukraine, where the time is approaching 9am.

  • The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is “only a beginning” and that Moscow has designs on capturing other countries after a Russian general said it wants full control over southern Ukraine. “All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first in line. And who will come next?” Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Friday.
  • Rustam Minnekayev, the deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying full control over southern Ukraine would give it access to Transnistria, a breakaway Russian-occupied part of Moldova in the west.
  • Moldova’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Moscow’s ambassador on Friday to express “deep concern” about the general’s comments. Moldova was neutral, it said. Moldova last month formally applied to join the European Union, charting a pro-western course hastened by Russia’s invasion.
  • Fears continue to grow for hundreds of civilians holed up in the Azovstal steel factory in the besieged port city of Mariupol, with the last remaining, outgunned contingent of Ukrainian fighters. Russia’s defence ministry said it was ready to allow civilians to leave the steelworks if Ukrainian forces surrendered. But according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, Russian forces are continuing to drop bombs on the plant.
  • Another mass grave has been found outside of Mariupol, the Associated Press has reported, citing the city council and an adviser to the mayor. The city council posted a satellite photo provided by Planet Labs showing what it said was a mass grave 45 metres by 25 metres that could hold the bodies of at least 1,000 Mariupol residents outside the village of Vynohradne.
  • Ukraine deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said that “there is a possibility” a humanitarian corridor could be opened up out of Mariupol on Saturday. She was speaking in an online address to the people waiting to be evacuated.
  • The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has called for the release of prominent Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was detained outside his home in Moscow on 11 April, hours after CNN aired an interview in which he criticised Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
  • The United Nations chief, António Guterres, will meet Putin in Moscow next week, seeking an end to the bloodshed. Two days later Guterres will also meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv, the UN announced.
  • The US military expects more than 20 countries to attend Ukraine-focused defence talks it will host in Germany next week that will focus in part on Kyiv’s long-term defence needs, the Pentagon said on Friday.
  • Western allies are preparing to offer Ukraine a series of “security guarantees” that should make the country “impregnable” to a future Russian invasion, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, was reported saying by the Press Association.
  • Zelenskiy has said he is “grateful” to Britain after Johnson announced the reopening of the UK embassy in Kyiv.
  • Russia’s defence ministry has reported that one sailor died and 27 more remain missing after one of its premier warships, the missile cruiser Moskva, sank last week in the Black Sea south of the threatened Ukrainian port of Odesa.
  • The UN human rights office said it has seen growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, describing the war as a “horror story of violations against civilians”. The UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, said “almost every resident” of the town of Bucha had a story about the death of a relative, a neighbour or even a stranger.
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