All updates in Central European Time (CET).
07:06 | Explosions reported in the port of Odessa
Loud explosions have been heard in the port city of Odessa, in whose sky three large columns of black smoke can be seen coming from an area where there is stored fuel. As Efe has been able to verify, the smoke starts from three points in the area where a refinery is located, in the north of this port city.
The explosions were felt around 06:00 local time (03:00 GMT) and caused at least three columns of black smoke with visible flames, in an industrial zone of this strategic port on the Black Sea. A downtown hotel clerk said he heard a plane, but a military man near the site of one of the blasts said it was a rocket or missile.
Anton Gerachtchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, wrote on Telegram: “Odessa was attacked from the air. Fires are observed in certain areas. Some of the missiles were shot down by air defense.” This historic city is considered strategic for its large port that allows access to the Black Sea and the rest of Ukraine.
04:50 | Poland accuses France and Germany of being too close to Russia
Poland’s deputy prime minister and strongman Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused France and Germany of having been too close to Russia before the invasion of Ukraine, in an interview published Sunday by the German newspaper Die Welt.
“Germany, like France, has a strong pro-Moscow bias,” said Kaczynski, leader of the ruling nationalist-populist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The leader aimed more harshly at the German executive. “For years, the German government did not want to see what Russia was doing under the leadership of [Vladimir] Putin and today we see the result,” he said. “Poland is not satisfied with Germany’s role in Europe,” he continued.
04:26 | The three Baltic countries stop importing Russian gas
The director of the Latvian natural gas storage operator reported on Saturday that the Baltic countries no longer import Russian natural gas. “Since April 1, Russian natural gas no longer flows to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania,” Uldis Bariss, CEO of Conexus Baltic Grid, said on the radio.
“If there were still doubts regarding whether there might be confidence in supplies from Russia, current events clearly show us that there is no longer confidence,” he added. Bariss also said that the Baltic market was currently supplied by gas reserves stored in the underground of Latvia.
Hours earlier, the Lithuanian president, Gitanas Nauseda, asked the rest of the EU to follow the example of the Baltic countries. “As of this month, there is no longer Russian gas in Lithuania,” he wrote on Twitter. “Years ago my country made decisions that today allow us to painlessly sever the energy ties with the aggressor,” he added. “If we can do it, the rest of Europe can do it too,” he said.
02:05 | Russians crack down on protest in occupied Ukrainian city
A demonstration in Energodar, a city in southern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces, was violently suppressed on Saturday, leaving four injured, a Ukrainian official reported.
“Today, in Energodar, the city’s inhabitants once more gathered in a rally of support for Ukraine, singing the national anthem,” Lyudmyla Denisova, parliament’s human rights officer, said on Facebook.
“The occupants used stun grenades and opened artillery fire on the inhabitants. Four people suffered severe burns,” it added.
Tanks and armored war machines of the Russian troops were destroyed by the Ukrainian Army, in the surroundings of the town of Dmitrovka, near kyiv.
01:25 | Ukraine regains control of the kyiv region
Ukrainian forces regained control of “the entire kyiv region” following the withdrawal of Russian forces from strategic cities near the capital, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar announced on Saturday. The towns of “Irpin, Bucha, Gostomel and the entire kyiv region were liberated from the invader,” she said.
These cities were destroyed by fighting following the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
On Monday, Ukraine said it had regained control of Irpin, which had been in Russian hands since the end of February.
Russian forces are carrying out a “rapid withdrawal” from the kyiv and Chernigov regions of northern Ukraine, with the aim of redeploying to the east and south, the Ukrainian government said on Saturday.
00:30 | Russia offers to help evacuate foreigners from Mariupol
Russia has said it will offer help to evacuate foreign nationals from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, said that carrying out “a humanitarian operation is possible only with the full assistance of the kyiv authorities for the passage of a humanitarian convoy from Mariupol, the strict observance of the ‘regime of silence’ during the evacuation, as well as the elimination of the threat of bombing,” according to the Interfax agency.
He added that “starting at 00:00 Moscow time on April 3 (22:00 GMT on Saturday), the Russian army opens a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Berdyansk, guaranteeing compliance with the ‘regime of silence’ on the route.”
00:14 | Lithuania stops Russian gas imports
The Lithuanian government announced this Saturday that it has stopped Russian gas imports, becoming the first European country to do so, according to Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys.
Lithuania’s gas transmission system has been operating without Russian gas imports since the beginning of this month “in response to Russian blackmail of Europe and the war in Ukraine,” the Energy Ministry said in a statement.
All of the Baltic republic’s gas needs will now be covered from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the port city of Klaipeda, the same source added.
jc (afp, efe)