A Russian general declared on Friday that Moscow wants to seize all of southern and eastern Ukraine, far wider war aims than it had acknowledged as it presses on with a new offensive after its campaign to capture the capital Kyiv collapsed last month. Ukraine said the comments by Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia's central military district, had given the lie to Russia's previous assertions that it has no territorial ambitions.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he was planning to hold phone calls with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in the coming days, adding that he hoped the calls could lead to a leaders' meeting in Turkey to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
The Biden Administration said that it is the United States, and not Russia, which is and will be India's "reliable" partner post the war in Ukraine. Britain, meanwhile, is set to offer India know-how to build its own fighter jets and a licence for faster deliveries of defence equipment when the prime ministers of the two countries meet on Friday, as the West tries to wean India away from Russia.
Russia was intensifying its attack on Ukraine's east as it seized a frontline city and sought a decisive victory in Mariupol, prompting Western governments to pledge more arms and sanctions. Thousands of Russian troops backed by artillery and rocket barrages were advancing in what Ukrainian officials called the Battle of the Donbas.
Russia's nearly eight-week-long invasion has taken longer than many expected while still failing to capture any of the biggest cities, forcing Moscow to refocus in and around separatist regions. The biggest attack on a European state since 1945 has, however, seen nearly 5 million people flee abroad and reduced cities to rubble as the incursion drags on.Russia was hitting the Azovstal steel plant, the main remaining stronghold in Mariupol, with bunker-buster bombs, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said late on Tuesday.
"The world watches the murder of children online and remains silent," adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter. After an earlier ultimatum to surrender lapsed and as midnight approached, Russia's defence ministry said not a single Ukrainian soldier had laid down their weapons and renewed the proposal. Ukrainian commanders at Azovstal have vowed not to surrender.
"Russia's armed forces, based purely on humanitarian principles, again propose that the fighters of nationalist battalions and foreign mercenaries cease their military operations from 1400 Moscow time on 20th April and lay down arms," the Russian Defence Ministry said.
The United States, Canada, Britain, France and Germany pledged more support to Ukraine."We will continue to provide them more ammunition, as we will provide them more military assistance," White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said, adding that new sanctions were being prepared. "It is unfair that Ukraine still has to ask for (weapons) which have been sitting for years in the storage depots of our partners" President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a four-day humanitarian pause in the fighting this coming weekend, when Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter, to allow civilians to escape and humanitarian aid to be delivered. Russia says it launched what it calls a "special military operation" on February 24 to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext.
Russia-Ukraine Crisis Live News Updates: Russian President Vladimir Putin and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres 
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit Moscow on Monday, where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin following his February invasion of Ukraine, said Eri Kaneko, associate spokesperson for the U.N. chief.
Guterres will also have a working meeting and lunch with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, Kaneko told reporters. (Reuters)
Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that the Russian military had captured a large arms depot in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, the TASS news agency reported.
The defence ministry said that the arms depot contained thousands of tonnes of ammunition, according to TASS. (Reuters)
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held discussions on Friday, the head of Moscow's delegation said, but Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said diplomatic efforts to end the war remained stalled.
Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky confirmed a TASS news report that "several long conversations" had been held but he gave no details. Earlier this week the Kremlin said Russia had submitted a new written proposal, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had neither seen nor heard about it.
It remains unclear whether the two sides can revive their faltering peace efforts, more than eight weeks after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. In separate comments on Friday, Lavrov, who has previously accused Kyiv of dragging out the peace process, sounded a downbeat note about the peace talks. (Reuters)
Russia's top diplomat says talks to end the fighting in Ukraine have “ground to a halt”, because Moscow hasn't received any response from Kyiv to its most recent set of proposals.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a press conference on Friday that “right now, they (talks) have ground to a halt, because another proposal we passed on to Ukrainian negotiators about five days ago, which was drawn up with their comments taken into account, it remains without a response.”
Lavrov also charged that recent statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his advisors suggest “they don't at all need these talks, they have put up with their destiny.” However, Vladimir Medinsky, President Vladimir Putin's aide and Russia's lead negotiator at the talks with Ukraine, confirmed reports that he held several lengthy conversations Friday with the head of the Ukrainian delegation. (AP)
A city official in besieged Mariupol says Russian forces are continuing to bomb a massive steel mill where Ukrainian fighters are holed up.
Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol's mayor, told The Associated Press on Friday that “every day they drop several bombs on Azovstal, despite false promises not to touch the defenders”. Andryushchenko added that “fighting, shelling, bombing do not stop”.
The Azovstal plant is the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, which the Russians has blocked for nearly two weeks and declared victory over this week. Ukrainian authorities have estimated that 1,000 civilians are inside the plant along with the fighters. (AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused Kyiv of refusing to allow Ukrainian troops to surrender in the besieged port city of Mariupol, as he spoke to EU chief Charles Michel.
News agency AFP reported that European Council president Charles Michel said he urged Putin in a phone call Friday to allow humanitarian access to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol during Orthodox Easter.
Underlining that India and UK are sticking together and confronting their “shared anxieties” about the “autocratic coercion” around the world, visiting Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “intervened several times” with Russian President Vladimir Putin “to ask him what on earth he thinks he is doing, and where he thinks this is going.” And, he also said that what Indians want is “peace” and the “Russians out (of Ukraine).”
Johnson, who spoke at a press conference organised by the British High Commission after the bilateral meeting with PM Modi, steered clear of criticising India for not condemning Russia’s actions. Read more
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit Ukraine's Chornobyl dormant nuclear plant next week, the nuclear watchdog said on Friday. Rafael Grossi will head an expert mission to step up efforts to help prevent the danger of a nuclear accident during the conflict in the country, the agency said in a statement.
The team of nuclear safety, security and safeguards staff will be in Chornobyl from April 26 to deliver vital equipment and conduct radiological and other assessments at the site, which was held by Russian forces for five weeks before they withdrew on March 31, it said.
"The IAEA's presence at Chornobyl will be of paramount importance for our activities to support Ukraine as it seeks to restore regulatory control of the plant and ensure its safe and secure operation," Grossi said, adding that more IAEA missions to Chornobyl and other nuclear facilities in Ukraine would follow within weeks. (Reuters)
Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday said that it was impossible to collaborate with Russia in the G20, a group that meets to discuss ways to foster global economic growth, as long as it is waging war in Ukraine.
"The G20 can't function effectively with Russia at the table," Freeland said in a joint news conference with Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.
Since the war is undermining growth, "Russia does not have a place at the table of countries who have come together to maintain global economic prosperity... You can't be a poacher and gamekeeper at the same time." (Reuters)
Against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, how do we deconstruct the complexities of war and its impact on our children?
The first thing to address is the issue of safety. Even if the war isn’t happening in our country, there is a global threat and children have access to news and its impact, to the hyperboles that politicians make and what the world around them is talking about. Read more
As many as 80 people who escaped the besieged city of Mariupol finally made it to Zaporizhzhia on Thursday after more than 24 hours. According to the Red Cross, 1,500 people had been expected to be evacuated by bus, but the Russians allowed only a few dozen to leave and pulled some people off the buses. (AP)
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby says assessments show Ukrainian troops are still contesting the southern city of Mariupol despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim of victory in the battle for the city in Ukraine's industrial heartland, home to coal mines, metal plants and heavy-equipment factories.
Putin on Thursday ordered his troops not to storm a giant Mariupol steel mill where an estimated 2,000 Ukrainians remain holed up but to seal it off in an apparent bid to free up his troops for the broader campaign in the east.
Kirby said it was “unclear” why Putin did that and Putin's words need to be viewed with skepticism. (AP)
Taiwan's foreign minister told the mayor of Ukraine's capital on Friday their democracies stood on "the frontline of resisting" large authoritarian neighbours as he announced a donation of $8 million to Kyiv and Ukrainian medical institutions.
The war in Ukraine has garnered broad sympathy in Taiwan, with many seeing parallels between Russia's invasion - which Moscow terms a "special military operation" - and military pressure from China, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory.
Taiwan has condemned Russia's invasion, joined Western-led sanctions and donated $20 million for Ukrainian refugees, mostly raised from the public. China has not condemned Russia, and only donated 15 million yuan ($2.3 million) in humanitarian aid. (Reuters)
The Netherlands plans to stop using Russian fossil fuels by the end of the year, the government said on Friday, vowing to spend an estimated 623 million euros ($675 million) on incentives for companies to fill a major gas storage facility.
The government said it was focused on making energy savings, greener policies and importing more energy from other countries.
"In this way the Netherlands can completely conserve or replace the Russian share of its gas by the end of the year," it said in a statement, joining other countries in cutting back on Russian supplies in protest over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters)
A senior White House adviser said on Friday he is confident Europe is determined to close off remaining Russian oil and gas exports as Moscow's war in Ukraine drags on.
"I have confidence that Europe is getting the message and they are determined to close off this last source of export revenue," Daleep Singh, deputy White House national security adviser, said in an interview with CNN.
The United States is conWhite house official says he is confident europe is determined to close off last source of russian energy export revenue. (Reuters)
Russian Olympic gold medalist swimmer Evgeny Rylov has been banned from the sport for nine months for appearing at a rally in support of President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Rylov stood on stage with medalists from other Olympic sports at the event last month and wore a jacket with a “Z” on the chest. The letter isn’t part of the Russian alphabet but has become a symbol of support for Russian troops after it was used as a marker on Russian armoured vehicles operating in Ukraine.
A brief statement from swimming’s world governing body, FINA, on Thursday said it “acknowledged” an earlier, as-yet-unpublished ruling from a disciplinary panel to ban Rylov “following Mr Rylov’s attendance and conduct at an event held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.” Read more
European Council President Charles Michel in a phone call on Friday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to engage directly with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and called for a ceasefire in Ukraine, an EU official said.
In his call with Putin at 0800 GMT, Michel stressed in "no uncertain terms" the unacceptability of Russia's war and detailed the sanction costs the European Union is imposing on Russia, the EU official said.
Michel also called for a ceasefire on the occasion of the upcoming Orthodox Easter and for safe passage for civilians seeking to leave besieged cities such as Mariupol. The phone call followed Michel's visit to Ukraine on Wednesday. (Reuters)
A missile is seen on a road, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Gostomel region, Ukraine.
(Photo: REUTERS/Mikhail Palinchak)
A Russian general declared on Friday that Moscow wants to seize all of southern and eastern Ukraine, far wider war aims than it had acknowledged as it presses on with a new offensive after its campaign to capture the capital Kyiv collapsed last month.
Ukraine said the comments by Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia's central military district, had given the lie to Russia's previous assertions that it has no territorial ambitions.
"They stopped hiding it," Ukraine's defence ministry said on Twitter. Russia had "acknowledged that the goal of the 'second phase' of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is." (Reuters)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he was planning to hold phone calls with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in the coming days, adding that he hoped the calls could lead to a leaders' meeting in Turkey to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
NATO member Turkey shares a martime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, has good ties with both, and has taken a mediating role. It has hosted talks between the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers in Antalya, and negotiators from both countries in Istanbul, while pushing for a leaders' meeting.
"We are not without hope," Erdogan told reporters when asked about the peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow. "Our friends will get in touch with them today, we plan to hold a call again with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy today or tomorrow," he said. (Reuters)