Ukraine's government said there was no agreement on an evacuation ceasefire with Russia in Mariupol, and called on the UN to broker a deal to rescue trapped civilians.
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Russian forces have now shifted their focus to the offensive in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.
Heavy shelling and fighting have continued in the east and south as Russia's army attempts to establish control over the region.
Follow our blog below to see how events unfolded on Monday 25 April:
For a summary of Sunday's developments, click here.
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Live ended
Monday's key points:
- Ukraine has called on the UN to broker a deal with Russia to evacuate civilians trapped in Mariupol.
- The call from the foreign minister comes after Kyiv poured cold water on Russia's announcement of a 'unilateral' ceasefire at the besieged Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol to allow civilians to leave. Deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk says no agreement had been reached.
- Ukrainian officials say the Russian military has unleashed a series of strikes on the country’s railways, killing five people.
- The Russian military has struck a Ukrainian oil refinery along with scores of other targets, the Russian Defence Ministry said Monday.
- A fire has erupted at a Russian oil depot near the border with Ukraine, Russia's TASS news agency reports.
- Ukraine's President Zelenskyy met with the US secretaries of state and defence on Sunday night in the highest-level visit to the country’s capital by an American delegation since the start of the war.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Russia is failing in its war aims and Ukraine is succeeding. The US is giving Ukraine new military assistance.
- Kyiv has reacted angrily to comments by Austria's foreign minister questioning full EU membership for Ukraine.
- A newly released video shows Ukrainian children in an underground bunker in Mariupol receiving Easter presents.
- More than 5.2 million refugees have fled Ukraine, according to UNHCR figures.
That's our Ukraine live blog wrapping up for Monday evening. We're back on Tuesday morning at 6am with the latest developments throughout the day, as the UN Secretary General visits Moscow for talks.
New mass grave found near Mariupol
Officials in the embattled Ukrainian port of Mariupol say a new mass grave has been identified north of the city.
Mayor Vadym Boychenko said authorities are trying to estimate the number of victims in the grave about 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) north of Mariupol.
Satellite photos released over the past several days have shown what appear to be images of other mass graves.
Mariupol has been decimated by fierce fighting over the past two months. The capture of the city would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.
(AP)
Russia wants to continue peace talks with Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says his country will continue peace talks with Ukraine, while accusing Ukraine of "pretending" to talk, and warning of the "real" danger of a third world war.
Quoted by Russian news agencies on Monday evening, Lavrov said: "Goodwill has its limits. And if it is not reciprocated, it does not contribute to the negotiation process."
"But we continue to hold negotiations with the team delegated by (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy, and these contacts will continue," he added.
Lavrov accused the Ukrainian president -- a former comedian elected to the presidency in 2019 -- of "pretending" to negotiate.
"He is a good actor (...), if you look carefully and read carefully what he says, you will find a thousand contradictions," the Russia's chief diplomat said.
In this context of unprecedented tensions between Russia and the West due to the Russian offensive in Ukraine, he warned of the "real" danger of a third world war.
"The danger is serious, it is real, it cannot be underestimated," Lavrov said, quoted by the Interfax agency.
As for the conflict in Ukraine, he said he was confident that "everything will of course end with the signing of an agreement".
"But the modalities of this agreement will depend on the situation of fighting on the ground, when this agreement becomes a reality."
(AFP)
Russia criticises Croatia over expelled diplomats' treatment
Moscow is accusing Croatia of having an anti-Russian policy for failing to provide “humanitarian” passage for 24 Russian diplomats and embassy staff who were expelled from the country over the war in Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Monday that the government of Croatia is “systematically destroying bilateral relations,” according to the Russian TASS news agency.
“The inhumane, cynical attitude towards our fellow countrymen won’t go without an answer,” she added.
Croatia has followed several other European Union states in expelling Russian diplomats for the bloody Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that Zakharova’s claims are Russian propaganda and that the expelled Russians already left the country, probably via neighboring Serbia. He added that Russia “attacked Ukraine, which is our friendly country, killed women and children and we responded to it like most other countries.”
(AP)
Ukraine wants UN to broker Mariupol evacuation
Ukraine's foreign minister says he wants the UN to broker a deal with Russia to evacuate trapped Mariupol residents, but warns the UN Secretary General not to fall into the Kremlin's diplomatic 'trap'.
Read more at our story here:
Russian authorities update death toll from military facility fire
Authorities in Russia have updated the death toll from a fire last week, which badly damaged a military research facility.
The regional government in Tver, said on Monday that 17 people were confirmed killed in the blaze, and that so far only five of the victims had been identified.
The fire at the Central Research Institute for Air and Space Defense of the Russian Defense Ministry in Tver, a city about 180 kilometers northwest of Moscow broke out on Thursday and it took authorities a day to extinguish.
Officials previously said six people had been killed, with 27 injured and 13 of them hospitalized.
The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately clear.
The research institute was involved in the development of some of the state-of-the-art Russian weapons systems, reportedly including the Iskander missile.
Explosions reported in Moldova separatist region
Police in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria say several explosions believed to be caused by rocket-propelled grenades hit the Ministry of State Security on Monday.
No injuries were immediately reported. The Interior Ministry said in a Facebook post that some of the building’s windows were broken and that smoke was coming from the structure.
Transnistria, a strip of land with about 470,000 people between Moldova and Ukraine, has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova, but also has a sizable ethnic Ukrainian population.
Russia bases about 1,500 troops there nominally as peacekeepers, but concerns are high that the forces could be used to invade Ukraine.
A senior Russian military official said last week that Russian forces aim to take full control of southern Ukraine, saying such a move would open the way to Transnistria.
Poland buys short-range anti-aircraft missiles
The Polish military is buying short-range surface-to-air missile systems, with the first two units to be fast-tracked for delivery.
The Narew anti-aircraft missiles have a range of about 25 kilometres and the Polish military will acquire 23 of the systems from the UK subsidiary of the European consortium MBDA, in a deal reportedly worth between 11 billion and 15 billion euros.
The agreement covers the integration of MBDA-produced launchers and missiles with the radio-location station and the communication and control system manufactured by the Polish defence industry.
Poland is still using old Soviet-designed anti-aircraft systems, but has accelerated the purchase and deployment of modern weapons since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In 2018, Poland purchased two US long-range Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, which are due for delivery this year.
(Euronews / AFP)
Turkey and UN discuss 'common objective' of ending Ukraine war
The chief of the United Nations and Turkey's president have met to "reaffirm that their common objective" of ending the war in Ukraine "as soon as possible."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Monday to stress the need for "effective" humanitarian corridors, through which Ukrainian civilians could be evacuated, alongside calling for an end to the conflict.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the pair also wanted to "end the suffering of civilians" inside Ukraine, adding that they "agreed to stay in contact to follow up on ongoing initiatives."
During his meeting with Guterres, Erdogan said Turkey would work closely with the UN to end the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and to help with the evacuation of civilians.
Guterres is expected to visit Moscow on Tuesday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the outbreak of war.
The Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, has blasted the UN chief for visiting Moscow before Kyiv.
'Maybe Blinken was imagining': Russia contests US war assessment
Russia has challenged comments by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Russia's offensive in Ukraine is "failing."
"I don't think we failed, frankly," said Dmitry Polyanskiy, the Russian deputy ambassador to the UN on Monday. "[Russia] has its own strategy. It has its own aims. It was never meant as a blitzkrieg."
He added: "I don't know, it was something that Secretary (Antony) Blinken, maybe, was imagining."
Polyanskiy's comments follow Blinken's Sunday meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after which he told reporters that "Russia is failing, Ukraine is succeeding."
Russia's deputy ambassador also dampened hopes of a complete ceasefire with Ukraine.
"We don't think that a ceasefire is a good option right now because the only advantage it will give, it will give possibility for Ukrainian forces to regroup and to stage more provocations," he said.
Earlier Monday, Russia announced a "humanitarian" corridor for civilians trapped in the besieged Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
Ukrainian officials responded that this was not agreed with Ukraine and that Ukraine does not consider it a safe route.
UK says 15,000 Russian troops killed so far in Ukraine
The British government says it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion two months ago.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said 25% of the Russian combat units sent to Ukraine “have been rendered not combat effective,” and Russia had lost more than 2,000 armored vehicles and more than 60 helicopters and fighter planes.
Russia has acknowledged only 1,351 military casualties.
Wallace said Russia had failed in most of its military objectives so far. He told parliament that “we anticipate this next phase of the invasion will be an attempt by Russia to occupy further the Donbas in order to connect it via Mariupol" to Russian-controlled Crimea. He said international aid and weapons are crucial to help Ukraine withstand the anticipated onslaught.
Wallace said Britain had sent more than 5,000 antitank missiles, as well as air-defense systems and anti-air missiles, and would soon send “a small number” of Stormer armored vehicles equipped with missile launchers.
(AP)
Media reports: Finland and Sweden to make joint NATO bid next month
Two newspapers - one Swedish, the other one Finnish - are reporting that the governments of Sweden and Finland have agreed to submit NATO applications at the same time and that it will happen in the middle of May.
The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti said that the Swedish government has expressed a wish to Finland that they apply together in the week starting May 22 and Swedish government sources confirmed the information to Sweden’s Expressen tabloid.
"The Swedish government has requested that Finland and Sweden have a common date for the publication of NATO applications. This day is being prepared for the week beginning May 16th" Iltalehti reports.
That's the same week Finnish President Sauli Niinistö is paying a state visit to Sweden.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to growing support in Sweden and Finland, a Russian neighbor, for joining NATO.
Though not members, both Nordic countries closely cooperate with NATO, allowing, among other things, the alliance’s troops to exercise on their soil. Helsinki and Stockholm have also substantially intensified their bilateral defense cooperation in the past years.
(Euronews, AP)
US to sell legacy hardware to Ukraine
The US State Department says it has approved the sale of $165 million in legacy Warsaw Pact ammunition and other non-standard ammunition to Ukraine to help in its defense against Russia.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved the potential sale and has provided the legally required notification to Congress. Lawmakers can block weapons sales but are unlikely to do so because of strong support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” the State Department said in announcing the potential sale Monday.
The sale came at the request of Ukraine’s government and includes rounds for mortars, automatic grenade launchers and howitzers.
(AP)
Norwegian campaigners block Russian oil tanker
Environmental campaigners have used kayaks and a dinghy to stop a Russian oil tanker from unloading its cargo south of Norway’s capital, saying Norwegian companies “are financing Russia’s warfare”.
Greenpeace says its members chained themselves to the Hong Kong-registered Ust Luga, leased by Russian oil company Novatek, as it arrived at its destination, an Esso’s terminal near Toensberg.
"The activists have chained themselves to the boat Ust Luga, which is hired by the company Novatek, where oligarch and Putin's friend Leonid Mikhelson are the main shareholder. Esso is the recipient of the delivery" the environmental pressure group wrote on social media.
"The goal of the action is to stop the purchase of oil - oil that finance Putin's war in Ukraine" it added.
The tanker left St. Petersburg with with 95,000 tonnes of fuel on board. Esso spokeswoman Anne Fougner told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that the oil had been bought before Russia invaded Ukraine. She added that Esso Norway “does not have other contracts for the purchase of products from Russia.”
Several other activists were stopped by police before they could take part in the action, Norwegian news agency NTB reported.
There have been recent protests in Norway's neighbouring country Finland recently as well, with state or city-owned companies continuing to import coal and oil from Russia, or using a sanctions 'loophole' to facilitate the transit of Russian coal through Finland to ports for onward export. Read more at our story here.
(Euronews / AP)
Russia expels 40 German diplomats
Russia is expelling 40 German diplomats in response to Germany expelling the same number of Russian diplomats earlier this month.
The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow said on Monday afternoon that it had summoned German ambassador Géza Andreas von Geyr for a “strong protest at the clearly unfriendly decision” to expel the Russian diplomatic staff.
The ministry said von Geyr was told that 40 members of staff at German diplomatic missions in Russia would be officially declared unwelcome in the country.
Germany announced the expulsion of 40 Russian diplomats on 4 April, following mounting evidence of civilian killings and mass graves in Bucha, near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
(AP)
ICC joins multinational war crimes probe
The International Criminal Court’s prosecution office is joining a joint investigation team set up by Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland to probe atrocities committed during the war in Ukraine.
The ICC’s Prosecutor Karim Khan signed an agreement on Monday to participate in the multinational effort that aims to facilitate investigations and cooperation.
Eurojust, the European Union’s judicial cooperation agency, says the agreement sends “a clear message that all efforts will be undertaken to effectively gather evidence on core international crimes committed in Ukraine and bring those responsible to justice.”
It says involving ICC prosecutors “will enable rapid and real-time coordination and cooperation with the JIT partner countries, in connection with investigations” conducted by the global court and by national law enforcement authorities.
Khan said last month he was opening an investigation in Ukraine and has sent investigators there and visited crime scenes himself.
(AFP)
Renowned architect Norman Foster offers to help rebuild Kharkiv
British architect Sir Norman Foster, known for restoring the Reichstag Palace in Germany and for designing the Millennium Bridge in London, has offered to help rebuild the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, partly destroyed after the Russian invasion.
The 86-year-old architect's Foundation said that Foster spoke via videoconference on Monday with Igor Terekhov, the mayor of Ukraine's second-largest city.
Sir Norman presented him with a plan to rebuild the city, known for its architecture in the Art Nouveau style, where a quarter of the buildings have been destroyed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Located near the border with Russia, the city of Kharkiv was the scene of bitter fighting at the start of the Russian offensive but remained under Ukrainian control.
Sir Norman Mr Foster said he wanted to "assemble the best minds with the best planning, architectural, design, and engineering skills in the world to bear on the rebirth of the city of Kharkiv."
He said the first step would be to draw up a plan for a "city of the future now and to plan for its life decades ahead."
(Euronews / AP)
Report: Five killed in Russian strikes
Authorities in Ukraine say at least five people have been killed by Russian strikes on Vynnytsia region in the centre of the country.
The local prosecutor's office said another 18 people were wounded in Monday’s Russian missile strikes on the towns of Zhmerynka and Koziatyn.
Vinnytsia regional Governor Serhiy Borzov said earlier that the Russian missiles targeted “critical infrastructure,” but didn’t elaborate.
The Vynnytsia region is fully controlled by Ukraine and is far behind the front lines.
(AP)
UN should oversee civilian evacuation route out of Mariupol, says Ukraine
Ukraine has said the United Nations should step in to oversee an evacuation route for civilians from the besieged steel mill in Mariupol, which is the last stronghold for Ukrainian troops in the port city.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the Telegram messaging app that a Russian announcement of a “humanitarian corridor” out of the Azovstal plant to operate later Monday was not agreed with Ukraine. Vereshchuk added that Ukraine does not consider the route safe for that reason and said Russia had breached agreements on similar evacuation routes before.
Ukrainian officials have said that up to 1,000 civilians have sheltered at the sprawling steel plant.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to visit Russia and Ukraine this week. Vereshchuk called on Guterres to be the “initiator and guarantor” of a humanitarian route out of Azovstal and for UN and International Committee of the Red Cross personnel to accompany any evacuees.
(AP)
Evidence women were raped before being killed by Russian forces, The Guardian
Forensic doctors carrying out postmortem examinations on bodies in mass graves north of Kyiv say they have found evidence some women were raped before being killed by Russian forces, according to a report from The Guardian.
“We already have a few cases which suggest that these women had been raped before being shot to death,” Vladyslav Pirovskyi, a Ukrainian forensic doctor who with a team of coroners has carried out dozens of autopsies on residents from Bucha, Irpin and Borodianka who died during Russia’s month-long occupation of the area, told the British newspaper.
Pirovskyi’s team has been examining about 15 bodies a day, many of them mutilated. “There are many burned bodies, and heavily disfigured bodies that are just impossible to identify,” he said. “The face could be smashed into pieces, you can’t put it back together, sometimes there’s no head at all.”
Pirovskyi said the bodies of some women they had examined showed signs that the victims had been killed by automatic gunfire, with upwards of six bullet holes in their backs.
Oleh Tkalenko, a senior prosecutor for the Kyiv region, said details of alleged rapes had been forwarded to his office, which is investigating circumstances such as locations and the ages of victims.
Read the full report here.
"We want to see Russia weakened," says US defence secretary
Speaking to reporters near the Poland-Ukrainian border on Monday, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated the US government’s support for Ukraine and opposition to Russia's invasion of the country.
“We want to see Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country able to protect its sovereign territory,” he told journalists. "We want to see Russia weakened to the point where it can’t do things like invade Ukraine."
“The first step in winning is believing that you can win," Austin added. “We believe that they [Ukraine] can win if they have the right equipment, the right support, and we're going to do everything we can ... to ensure that gets to them.”
Hours earlier, Austin and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, where they told Zelenskyy and his advisers that the US would provide more than $300 million in foreign military financing and had approved a $165 million sale of ammunition to the country.
Number of Ukrainian refugees continues to grow
Figures released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday show that the number of Ukrainian refugees continues to grow, with 5.2 million now having fled the violence in the country.
According to the UNHCR, 5,232,014 Ukrainians have left their country since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
This figure marks an increase of 45,270 refugees on the number published on Sunday.
However, the flow of refugees pouring out of Ukraine slowed has slowed in recent weeks.
Since the beginning of April, under 1,197,000 Ukrainians have fled, much less than the 3.4 million who decided to leave in March.
Non-Ukrainians, particularly migrant workers and students, have also been affected by Russia's invasion. More than 218,000 have had to leave Ukraine for neighbouring countries, says the UN subsidiary, the International Organisation for Migration.
Moscow announces ceasefire for civilians in Azovstal
Russia has announced that it will allow civilians trapped in Mariupol's Azovastal steel mill to evacuate on Monday.
The Russian army and their allied pro-Russian Ukrainian proxy forces would "unilaterally cease hostilities at 2:00 p.m. Moscow time (11:00 GMT), withdraw units to a safe distance and ensure the departure of 'civilians' in a direction of their choosing," the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Some 1,000 civilians have been holed up with Ukrainian fighters in the Azovstal mill in southeastern Ukraine for weeks, as Russia's forces have laid siege to it.
It is one of the last remaining pockets of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol.
Ukrainian and international authorities have repeatedly urged Russia to grant civilians a safe passge out of the mill.
(AFP/AP)
Ukraine 'disappointed', as Austrian FM says country should not join EU
Ukraine has been left disappointed after what it calls "strategically shortsighted" comments from Austria's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.
Speaking on 24 April, Schallenberg said the EU should offer Kyiv "another path" in its relationship with the 27-member bloc, calling for other models than full membership and more flexibility.
He justified this position by saying there are "enlargement countries" in the Western Balkans, which have come a long way without full membership.
"We consider [his remarks] strategically short-sighted and not in the interests of a united Europe," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry responded in a statement.
A majority of countries inside the EU back Ukrainian membership.
Ukrainian railways under attack
The Russian military has unleashed a series of strikes on the country’s railways, according to Ukrainian officials.
On Monday, a Russian missile hit a railway facility in Krasne, about 40 kilometres east of Lviv, said Lviv region Governor Maksym Kozytskyy, sparking a fire.
Oleksandr Kamyshin, the head of the state-run Ukrainian Railways, said a total of five rail facilities in central and western Ukraine have been hit by the Russian strikes. He said the attacks have delayed at least passenger 16 trains.
There was no immediate information about the damage from the strikes.
(AP)
Russian authorities say a fire has engulfed an oil storage facility in western Russia
The Emergencies Ministry said a huge blaze at the depot in the city of Bryansk erupted early Monday. Its cause wasn’t immediately clear.
The oil depot is owned by Transneft-Druzhba, a subsidiary of the Russian state-controlled company Transneft that operates the western-bound Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline carrying crude oil to Europe. It wasn’t clear if the depot was part of the pipeline infrastructure and whether the blaze could affect the deliveries.
Russian news reported that another oil storage facility in Bryansk also caught fire early Monday, and that the cause wasn’t immediately known.
Bryansk is located about 100 kilometres north of the border with Ukraine, where Moscow has waged a military campaign for two months. Last month, two Ukrainian helicopter gunships hit an oil reservoir in Russia’s Belgorod region that borders Ukraine, causing a fire.
(AP)
Russia strikes oil refinery
The Russian military has struck a Ukrainian oil refinery along with scores of other targets, the Russian Defence Ministry said Monday.
High-precision sea- and air-based long-range weapons destroyed fuel production facilities of an oil refinery on the northern outskirts of the industrial city of Kremenchuk, as well as storage facilities for oil products to supply military equipment of Ukrainian troops, it said.
The claim could not be independently verified.
Russia also said that its airforce hit 56 military assets overnight on Sunday, including two command posts and 53 areas with concentrations of manpower and military equipment.
Zelenskyy meets face-to-face with top-level US delegation, promised military aid
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the US secretaries of state and defence on Sunday night in what was the highest-level visit to the country’s capital by an American delegation since the start of the war.
Zelenskyy’s last face-to-face meeting with a top US official was on 19 February in Munich with Vice President Kamala Harris, five days before Russia’s invasion.
The meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin came as Ukraine pressed the West for more powerful weapons and as Russia continued its campaign in the eastern Donbas region, where Moscow’s forces are seeking to dislodge the last Ukrainian troops in the battered port of Mariupol.
Blinken and Austin told Zelenskyy and his advisers that the United States would provide more than $300 million in foreign military financing and had approved a $165 million sale of ammunition.
They also said that President Joe Biden would soon announce his nominee for ambassador to Ukraine, and that American diplomats who left Ukraine before the war would start returning to the country this week.
