Russia will descend into 'economic, financial and technological decay', von der Leyen says

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference in Kyiv that Russia will descend into "economic, financial and technological decay while Ukraine is marching towards a European future".

The Commission president said the Ukrainian people were "holding up the torch of freedom."

Earlier, she travelled to Bucha to see the mass graves of civilians reportedly killed by Russian troops.

"You can tell that our humanity was shattered in Bucha," von der Leyen said, adding that it was right that Russia was suspended from human rights council.

She said that Ukraine belongs to the European family and transferred an envelope to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a questionnaire as the beginning of Ukraine's accession to the European Union.

Chernobyl staff 'exhausted mentally and physically', Ukraine energy minister tells Euronews

Ukrainian energy minister German Galushchenko told Euronews that staff at Chernobyl were "exhausted mentally and physically" after working under Russian occupation for more than a month.

"It's a big pressure to operate the station under occupation," Galushchenko said. It is "really very difficult because every day (the staff had) to speak with Russian soldiers."

The Ukrainian official added that Russian soldiers had dug the land in the forest, thus influencing radiation levels.

Read the full story here.

Ukrainian officials: 67 buried in mass grave

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office says approximately 67 bodies were buried in a mass grave near a church in Bucha, a northern Kyiv suburb where journalists and returning Ukrainians discovered scores of bodies on streets and elsewhere after Russian troops withdrew.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said Friday that 18 bodies had been located so far, 16 with bullet wounds and two with bullet and shrapnel wounds. Two were women and the rest were men, she said.

“This means that they killed civilians, shot them,” Venediktova said, speaking as workers pulled corpses out under spitting rain. Black body bags were laid in rows in the mud.

The prosecutor general’s office is investigating the deaths, and other mass casualties involving civilians, as possible war crimes. Venediktova said the European Union is involved in the investigation and “we are coordinating our actions.”

(AP)

Russia closes local offices of Amnesty and HRW

Russia has closed the local offices of human rights organisations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, according to a statement released on Friday by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

The local representation of Amnesty (United Kingdom) and that of HRW (United States) have "been excluded from the official register of foreign non-governmental organisations" in Russia, due to "violations of Russian legislation", according to the statement.

(AFP)

UK pledges more military equipment to Ukraine

Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged another 100 million pounds in high-grade military equipment to Ukraine, saying Britain wants to help Ukraine defend itself.

Speaking Friday at a news conference with Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Johnson said he would give Ukraine’s military more Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles, another 800 anti-tank missiles, and precision munitions capable of lingering in the sky until directed to their target.

He also promised more helmets, night vision and body armour. The items were in addition to some 200,000 pieces of non-lethal military equipment from the UK that had already been promised.

The pledge of new weaponry came as Johnson condemned the attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk earlier on Friday. Women and children gathering on a train platform perished in the blast.

Johnson said both the UK and Germany shared the “revulsion at the brutality being unleashed, including the unconscionable bombing of refugees fleeing their homes,’’ adding that the train station attack “shows the depths to which Putin’s vaunted army has sunk.’’

(AP)

'We fear the worst', UNICEF's Ukraine representative says of child death toll in Kramatorsk train station attack

A Russian rocket attack killed dozens at a train station in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine which was used by evacuees in recent days.

"We do not know yet how many children were killed and injured in the attack, but we fear the worst," said UNICEF Ukraine Representative Murat Sahin in a statement.

"Kramatorsk train station has been the main route out for thousands of families evacuating from Donetsk oblast, which has seen some of the war’s worst destruction, to relatively safer areas in Ukraine."

According to local authorities, at least five children have been killed in the attack.

Local authorities announce curfew in Odesa from Saturday evening to Monday morning

A curfew will be in effect from Saturday evening to Monday morning in Odesa, the Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, in the face of a "threat" of missile strikes, local authorities announced.

After the bombing of the Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine, which left at least 50 dead, "a threat of a missile attack looms in Odesa on April 10, 2022. That's why a curfew is imposed in Odesa and its region from 9 p.m. on April 9 until 6 a.m. on April 11, 2022,” the regional military administration said on Friday.

(AFP)

Coal, trucks, vodka and Putin's daughters: Here's our guide to what's in the latest round of EU sanctions

Following two days of long and heated negotiations, EU countries have agreed to slap Russia with a new round of sanctions that, for the first time, directly targets energy supplies.

The sanctions package – the fifth in total since the war in Ukraine began – comes in response to the alleged indiscriminate killings of civilians in Bucha, a suburb near Kyiv.

The images of bodies strewn across the streets prompted an outpouring of international condemnation against the Kremlin, which continues to deny any responsibility in the massacre.

"To take a clear stand is not only crucial for us in Europe, but also for the rest of the world. A clear stand against Putin's war of choice," said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, earlier this week.

The new set of penalties has been described as "massive" and "far-reaching" by EU officials but they present exemptions and loopholes that might blunt its effectiveness.

So what exactly is in the latest package?

Read the full Euronews guide to the latest round of EU sanctions here.

European Commission President von der Leyen in Bucha where Russian troops allegedly committed atrocities

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen arrived on Friday in Bucha, a small town northwest of Kyiv that has become a symbol of the atrocities of the war in Ukraine, according to an AFP journalist.

Von der Leyen, who is accompanied by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, travelled to Ukraine on Friday as a show of support for the country.

The two EU officials went to see the mass graves dug in Bucha to bury dozens of civilians killed in the fighting, AFP reported.

Russian coal will still be heading to Europe until at least August, says EU

The EU is planning to approve a total ban on Russian coal that would take effect from mid-August 2022 - but it's a month later than initially planned.

The decision came after pressure was applied by Germany to delay the measure.

The phase-out of EU imports of Russian coal is the cornerstone measure in a fifth package of sanctions against Russia that the EU Commission proposed this week, as a reaction to civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

Once approved, it will be the EU's first ban on any import of energy from Russia since the start of what the Kremlin calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine on 24 February.

Oil and gas, which represent far bigger imports from Moscow, are still untouched.

Read the full story from Euronews Green here.

Kramatorsk train station attack death toll rises to 50

The rocket attack that struck a railway station at Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine killed at least 50 people including five children, Ukrainian authorities said.

They had previously said that at least 39 people had died including four children and more than 100 people were injured in the attack.

The station has been heavily used by evacuees, and officials say thousands of people were there at the time of the attack.

Russia expels 45 Polish diplomats in retaliation, foreign affairs ministry says

Russia announced on Friday that it would expel 45 Polish diplomats in retaliation for the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Poland at the end of March.

"Due to the principle of reciprocity, 45 employees of the Polish embassy and its general consulates in Irkutsk, Kaliningrad and Saint Petersburg have been declared persona non grata," Russia's ministry of foreign affairs said.

Several EU countries have recently expelled Russian diplomats accusing them of spying or posing a threat to national security.

In late March, Poland's domestic counter-intelligence agency said that they had identified 45 individuals who were involved in Russian intelligence projects that posed a threat to Poland's national security.

(with AFP)

What do we know about the Kramatorsk train station attack?

The rocket attack that struck a railway station at Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine killed at least "39 people including four children" and injured "over 100", according to Ukrainian authorities.

There was swift condemnation from the Kyiv government and European politicians, none of whom were in any doubt as to who was to blame as they condemned Russia for targeting civilians.

The station has been heavily used by evacuees, and officials say thousands of people were there at the time of the attack.

Late on Friday morning, Ukraine's state railway company said two rockets struck the station through which many Ukrainians had passed in recent days, fleeing the conflict zone in the Donbas region.

"Two rockets hit Kramatorsk railway station," Ukrainian Railways said in a statement, adding that according to "operational data... more than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded".

Read the full story about what we know about the attack here.

Sumy region 'liberated' from Russian forces but governor warns of mines

The region of Sumy, bordering Russia in northeastern Ukraine, has been completely "liberated" from Russian forces, the regional governor said on Friday. The Russians' departure means that Moscow has now completely evacuated northern Ukraine.

However, Dmytro Zhyvytskyy warned on the messaging app Telegram that locals are still in danger because of mines and other ammunition that the Russian forces left behind.

Authorities are urging people to avoid using forest roads, walking on roadsides, or approaching destroyed military equipment after Russian troops pulled out of the region.

In a message apparently directed to local residents, Zhyvytskyy said any explosions in the area in the short term were likely to be sounds of rescuers and mine-clearing specialists at work deactivating the ammunition and other explosives.

He had said earlier this week that Russia no longer controlled any settlements in the region.

(with AP, AFP)

EU returns its ambassador to Kyiv in show of support

The European Union has returned its ambassador to Ukraine to the capital, Kyiv, in a move that underscores the improved security situation there and the 27-nation bloc's commitment to the beleaguered country.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made the announcement Friday during a visit to Kyiv where he joined EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Borrell said the ambassador's return would help ensure that the EU and Ukraine’s government can work together more directly and closely.

Russian forces sought to enter Kyiv in the days after its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine but despite severe losses and damage, the city withstood the attacks and the government was able to continue functioning from there.

Borrell called it “impressive” that Ukraine's government was fully functioning under “the very difficult circumstances.”

(AP)

Russia denies responsibility for Kramatorsk strike

The defence ministry in Moscow has denied that Russia was involved in "an alleged missile attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk".

A statement posted on Facebook said Kyiv's claims were "a provocation and are absolutely untrue".

It said there were no Russian "firing missions" in the area and said the wreckage was of missiles used only by Ukraine.

The Russian statement is in line with a consistent policy of blanket denial that long precedes its war against Ukraine.

Kramatorsk: Ukraine FM condemns 'deliberate slaughter' of civilians

Slovakia provides Ukraine with S-300 air defence system, PM says 

UN's food price index reaches another record increase, organisation says

The United Nations says prices for world food commodities like grains and vegetable oils reached their highest levels ever last month due to fallout from the war in Ukraine.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday that its Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for a basket of commodities, recorded a double-digit percentage-point increase in March from the record level already set the previous month.

FAO said the index came in at 159.3 points last month, up 12.6% from February’s all-time high since the index was created in 1990.

The Rome-based agency says the war in Ukraine was largely responsible for the 17.1% rise in prices for cereals, including wheat and all coarse grains. Russia and Ukraine together account for around 30% and 20% respectively of global wheat and maize exports.

(AP)

EU and UK include Putin's daughters on sanctions list

The European Union imposed has sanctions on two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a new package of measures targeting Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to two EU officials.

The EU included Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova in its updated list of individuals facing assets freeze and travel bans. 

The British government has also said it is imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Putin’s daughters, as well as Yekaterina Vinokurova, daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The move follow similar measures two days earlier by the United States.

(with AP)

EU's Borrell condemns 'indiscriminate attack' at Kramatorsk

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, due to visit Kyiv with Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, has taken to Twitter to blame Russia for the rocket attack on Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian army has denied responsibility, blaming Ukrainian "provocation".

Kramatorsk rail station attack comes amid mass evacuations

Friday's reported rocket attack on a railway station at Kramatorsk comes as Russia steps up its offensive in eastern Ukraine, having withdrawn its troops from the Kyiv region and the north.

Moscow has made the conquest of the Donbas region, which has been partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, its priority objective.

Pavlo Kirilenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said thousands of people had been at the station at the time the rockets struck. The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said about 4,000 civilians were in and around the station, most of them women and children.

Russian-backed separatists control part of the Donestsk region, but Kramatorsk is known as the "capital" of the area that remains under Ukrainian government control.

Ukrainian authorities have been trying hard to evacuate civilians as Russian forces multiply attacks in the south and east. At least twice this week civilians have been urged to "leave while they can".

Evacuations by train, which had been interrupted due to damage to part of the railway, had resumed overnight from Thursday to Friday, said the governor of the Luhansk region, Sergiy Hardai. For several days he had been encouraging people not to "condemn themselves to death" by staying.

"Three evacuation trains carrying residents of the Luhansk and Donetsk region were able to leave for the west. The track has been repaired," he said early Friday, before the attack on Kramastorsk station.

Photos taken two days ago showed platforms at the station crammed with passengers awaiting trains to other parts of the country.

(Euronews with AFP, AP, Reuters)

Zelenskyy slams Russian 'unlimited evil' over Kramatorsk attack

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday denounced an "evil that knows no bounds" unleashed by Russia after the rocket attack on Kramatorsk station in the east of the country, from which civilians have been evacuating.

At least 30 people are reported dead in the attack and over 100 wounded, according to the state railway company. 

"Without the strength and the courage to face us on the battlefield, they (the Russians) are cynically destroying the civilian population. It is an evil that knows no bounds. And if it is not punished, it will not will never stop,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, denouncing the “inhumane” methods of the Russian forces.

(AFP)

'Europe still not fully aware of tragedy and suffering in Ukraine'

The frontline aid workers helping those fleeing the violence, their fears the Russians may target humanitarian convoys, and a sense that "political leaders in the West are still not fully aware of the extent of the human tragedy and suffering".

Euronews' Aleksandar Brezar reports from the Poland-Ukraine border region.

'Europe still not fully aware of tragedy and suffering in Ukraine'

“Nobody could ever expect, believe or anticipate something like this. These are horror stories — what is going on in Mariupol, what is going on in Chernihiv, in Kharkiv. It’s unimaginable.” #UncoveringEurope

Rocket attack on Kramatorsk station 'kills more than 30'

Ukraine's state railway company says more than 30 people have been killed and over 100 wounded in a rocket attack on Kramatorsk railway station in eastern Ukraine.

It said two rockets struck the station which has been heavily used by evacuees fleeing the conflict zone in the Donbas region in recent days.

"Two rockets hit Kramatorsk railway station," Ukrainian Railways said in a statement, adding later that according to "operational data... more than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded".

Neither the attack nor the casualty figures have been verified.

However, an AFP reporter saw the bodies of at least 20 people in body bags. Earlier, he noticed that hundreds of people still hoped to find a train there to leave the city, under threat of a major Russian offensive.

An aid worker helping to evacuate the station told AFP that at least 35 people had died.

The head of Ukraine's railways, Olexander Kamyshin, said on the messaging app Telegram that it was a "deliberate strike".

(AFP, Reuters, AP)

Ukraine war pushes world food commodity prices to highest ever level

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says world food commodity prices made a significant leap in March to reach their highest levels ever, as war in the Black Sea region spread shocks through markets for staple grains and vegetable oils.

Kremlin admits 'significant losses' among Russian troops

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged on Thursday that Russian forces have suffered "significant losses" in Ukraine.

"Yes, we have significant losses of troops and it is a huge tragedy for us," he told Sky News.

He also claimed that the Russian troop withdrawals from the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions was "an act of a goodwill" to aid negotiations.

Russian forces 'advancing south' from Izium — UK intelligence

The latest UK military intelligence assessment of the war says "Russian troops have advanced further south from the strategically important city of Izium".

It adds that in northern Ukraine they have fully withdrawn to Belarus and Russia, and that any mass redeployment further east is likely to take at least a week.

EU countries agree on new Russia sanctions, including coal embargo

European Union countries agreed on Thursday on a Russian coal embargo as part of a fifth round of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, according to the French EU Council presidency.

The package of sanctions was approved by the EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives, the presidency said on Twitter. 

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

EU offers Ukraine an extra €500m in military aid

European Council president Charles Michel says the bloc’s top diplomat has proposed adding an additional €500 million to Ukraine under the “European Peace Facility,” the fund which has been used for the first time during the war to deliver defensive lethal weapons to a third country.

The EU has previously agreed to spend €1 billion on military supplies for Ukrainian forces in an unprecedented step of collectively supplying weapons to a country under attack.

EU countries and NATO have so far excluded the option of a direct military intervention in Ukraine.

“Once swiftly approved this will bring to €1.5 billion the EU support already provided for military equipment for Ukraine,” Michel said in a message posted on Twitter in which he thanked EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell.

The proposal needs to be approved by the 27 EU countries. The EU said the instrument should help Ukraine armed forces “defend the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty” and protect the civilian population.

(AP)

Civilians again urged to flee eastern conflict zone

Ukrainian authorities have again called on the civilian population to leave areas of eastern Ukraine where a new Russian offensive is feared.

Russian forces have "damaged the railroad in Shastya. From now on, the evacuation will take place only by bus", said the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai.

"All the horrors we have known are likely to get worse. Do not sentence yourselves to death! Leave! The next few days will be the last chance" for an evacuation, he said on Facebook.

And in Donestk, the head of the regional military administration Pavel Kirilenko said that three evacuation trains had been temporarily immobilised after a Russian strike against a railway line.

Another new call concerned the town of Severodonetsk, the most easterly held by Ukrainian forces, which has been pounded by Russian troops. On Thursday AFP journalists saw civilians evacuated by buses, while explosions rang out regularly on the outskirts.

A "large number" of evacuees have already arrived in Dnipro, said the mayor of the industrial city of a million inhabitants on the Dnieper river.

(AFP)

Images an 'outrage to our common humanity', says Biden

President Joe Biden calls the United Nations vote to suspend Russia from the body’s Human Rights Council on Thursday “a meaningful step by the international community.”

He also said that it further demonstrates how Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war “has made Russia an international pariah.”

The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the U.N.’s leading human rights body over allegations of horrific rights violations by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

The vote on Thursday was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.

The United States and Ukraine have called Russia’s alleged rights violations tantamount to war crimes.

In a statement, Biden said the images out of Bucha and other areas of Ukraine as Russian troops withdraw are “horrifying” and “an outrage to our common humanity.”

(AP)

Borodianka destruction 'more horrific' than Bucha, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday night that work has begun to dig through the rubble in Borodianka, another city northwest of Kyiv that was occupied by the Russians.

He described the situation as "more horrific" there than in Bucha, where images of civilian bodies lying strewn in the streets caused a global outcry. "There are more victims" in Borodyanka, Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova announced on Facebook on Thursday that 26 bodies have been pulled out by Ukrainian rescue workers from the rubble of two apartment buildings in the town.

In his daily nighttime video address to the nation on Thursday, Zelenskyy said the Russians were preparing to shock the world in the same way by showing corpses in Mariupol and falsely claiming they were killed by the Ukrainian defenders.

Meanwhile, Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said Thursday on Ukrainian television that investigators have found at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians during the Russian occupation.

Fedoruk said hundreds have been killed and investigators are finding bodies in yards, parks and city squares.

(with AP, AFP)

Good morning, this is Alasdair Sandford with the latest updates on the war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion.