Moscow announced on Friday that it was aiming for total control of southern Ukraine.
DIRECT RTL INFO
09:45 – New attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol on Saturday, according to kyiv
A new attempt to evacuate civilians from the Ukrainian port of Mariupol is scheduled for Saturday, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. “Today we are once more trying to evacuate women, children and the elderly.”said the official on Facebook, adding that the civilians had started to gather near a shopping center in the city and hoped to be able to start evacuating around 12:00 p.m. local time (11:00 a.m. Belgian time).
02:29 – UN chief to visit Russia and Ukraine next week
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will go to Russia next week where he will be received by Vladimir Putin before going to Ukraine two days later where he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “He will also be received by President Vladimir Putin,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
9:36 p.m. – Sinking of the Moskva cruiser: Russia gives a death toll of one dead and 27 missing
A sailor has died and 27 others are still missing following the sinking of the cruiser Moskva last week, the Russian Defense Ministry said, acknowledging casualties in the sinking for the first time. “A soldier was killed and 27 other crew members are missing”the ministry said, quoted by Russian news agencies, as saying that the other 396 people on board had been evacuated.
6:22 p.m. – Moscow aims for control of Donbass and southern Ukraine
Moscow announced on Friday that it was aiming for total control of southern Ukraine and the Donbass region nearly two months following the start of the invasion of this country by the Russian army, accused by the UN of actions “possibly amounting to war crimes”.
“One of the objectives of the Russian army is to establish full control over Donbass and southern Ukraine”said a senior Russian military official speaking of a “second phase of the special operation” aiming, among other things, to “ensure a land corridor to Crimea”. Moscow had scaled back its plans and withdrew its troops from the kyiv region and the north at the end of March.
4:22 p.m. – Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine “skate”
Negotiations between Moscow and kyiv aimed at finding a solution to the conflict are “skating”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday, as the talks did not lead to any apparent progress. “They are slipping, because a proposal that we submitted to the Ukrainian negotiators five days ago, and which was formulated taking into account their comments, remains unanswered”, said Mr. Lavrov. The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinski, also indicated that a new session of discussions had taken place on Friday.
3:14 p.m. – Belgium will continue its arms deliveries
Belgium will continue to deliver military equipment to the Ukrainian army, we learned on Friday from concordant sources following a meeting of the select ministerial committee (kern). Discretion was however required on the nature of the material concerned, the quantities to be delivered and the terms of this delivery. A good source, however, it was specified that the shipment will contain anti-tank weapons.
2:23 p.m. – Mariupol: EU asks Putin for humanitarian corridors
European Council President Charles Michel, who represents EU member states, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone interview on Friday to guarantee humanitarian corridors in Mariupol on the occasion of the Orthodox Easter.
2:11 p.m. – Russia says it is ready for a truce “at any time” on the Azovstal site of Mariupol
The Russian army said on Friday it was ready to observe “at any time” a truce “on all or part” of the industrial site of Azovstal, the last bastion of Ukrainian forces from Mariupol, to allow the evacuation of civilians and the surrender of combatants. “The starting point of this humanitarian pause will be the raising by Ukrainian armed formations of white flags over all or part of Azovstal”, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. He assures that the evacuated civilians will have the choice of joining territories under Ukrainian or Russian control and that the Ukrainian soldiers will be well treated and that the wounded will be cared for.
1:15 p.m. – The UN accuses Russia of possible war crimes
The UN on Friday accused the Russian army of actions “might amount to war crimes” in Ukraine since the February 24 invasion and found that humanitarian law had “been thrown overboard”.
1:10 p.m. – France delivers Caesar guns and anti-tank missiles to Ukraine
France is supplying Milan anti-tank missiles and Caesar guns to Ukraine to help it deal with the Russian invasion, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with Ouest-France published on Friday.
1 p.m. – The future of the war “depends on the fate of Mariupol”
The future of the war in Ukraine “depends on the fate of Mariupol”, a besieged port in the south-east of the country, almost entirely under Russian control, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told AFP on Friday.
12:45 p.m. – The United Kingdom will reopen its embassy in kyiv “next week”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday the reopening “next week” of the British embassy in kyiv, which had been closed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
11:40 a.m. – One dead and two injured in the crash of a troop transport plane
A Ukrainian An-26 troop carrier crashed on Thursday during a “technical flight” in the Zaporizhia region of southeastern Ukraine, killing one and injuring two, according to the regional administration .
11:30 a.m. – The UN accuses the Russian army of actions “that may amount to war crimes”
The UN on Friday accused the Russian army of actions “might amount to war crimes” in Ukraine since the February 24 invasion, including indiscriminate bombardments killing civilians and destroying schools and hospitals.
11 a.m. – The Russian army aims for “total control of Donbass and southern Ukraine”
Russia is aiming for full control of southern Ukraine and the eastern region of Donbass to have a land bridge to Crimea annexed by Moscow, a senior Russian military official said on Friday.
9 a.m. – No civilian evacuation corridor
No evacuation corridor for civilians can be organized Friday in Ukraine, said a Ukrainian government official, judging the situation too “dangerous” on the roads.
5 a.m. – Ukraine accuses Russia of preparing a fake referendum
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of seeking to stage a fake independence referendum in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia it occupies. “It’s not just to conduct a census. (…) It’s not to give you humanitarian aid of any kind. It’s actually to tamper with a so-called referendum on your land , if the order to organize this comedy comes from Moscow”warned the Ukrainian president.
