Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol board a bus accompanied by a UN staff member near a temporary accommodation centre during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the village of Bezimenne in the Donetsk Region. (Reuters)Russia Ukraine Live Updates: Around 50 Ukrainian civilians reached the relative safety of a temporary camp in Russian-held territory on Sunday after being evacuated from a ruined steelworks in Mariupol, where the United Nations said a “safe passage operation” was in progress. With fighting stretching along a broad front in southern and eastern Ukraine, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged continued U.S. support for Ukraine when she met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in an unannounced visit to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy switched to Russian in his nightly video address to urge Russian soldiers not to fight in Ukraine, saying even their generals expected that thousands of them would die. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces fought village by village to hold back a Russian advance through the country’s east, while the United Nations worked to broker a civilian evacuation from the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol. An estimated 100,000 civilians remain in the city, and up to 1,000 are living beneath a sprawling Soviet-era steel plant, according to Ukrainian officials.
In other news, Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed the progress of the UN effort to evacuate people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol during a talk with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an official statement said. “The prime minister reiterated that he is more committed than ever to reinforcing Ukraine and ensuring (Russian President Vladimir) Putin fails, noting how hard the Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom,” Johnson’s Downing Street office said.
The European Union is leaning toward a ban on imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, two EU diplomats said, after talks between the European Commission and EU member states this weekend.
The European Union is preparing a sixth package of sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion just over two months ago of Ukraine that Moscow calls a special military operation. The package is expected to target Russian oil, Russian and Belarusian banks, as well as more individuals and companies.
The Commission, which is coordinating the EU response, held talks dubbed "confessionals" with small groups of EU countries and will aim to firm up its sanctions plan in time for a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday. EU energy ministers are also due to meet in the Belgian capital on Monday to discuss the issue.
The EU diplomats said some EU countries were able to end their use of oil before the end of 2022, but others, particularly more southerly members, were concerned about the impact on prices. (Reuters)
The United Nations is conducting a "safe passage operation" for civilians from the Azovstal steel works in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Sunday.
The operation began on April 29 and is being coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Russia and Ukraine, the spokesperson, Saviano Abreu, told Reuters. He said the operation arrived at the steel works on Saturday morning. He added that no further details could be released so as not to jeopardise the safety of evacuees and the convoy. (Reuters)
A Russian defence ministry facility in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine has caught fire, Belgorod region governor said on Sunday. There was no immediate information about damage or casualties, the governor said in a post on Telegram. Images posted to social media showed a large funnel of smoke rising above the ground. (Reuters)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has brushed aside criticism that his government is not doing enough to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion.
Even though Germany reversed its policy of not sending weapons to countries at war, Scholz has been accused at home and abroad of being hesitant and slow in coming to Ukraine's aid. In an interview published on Sunday by newspaper Bild, the Social Democratic leader defended his government's approach.
“I make my decisions quickly - and in coordination with our partners,” Scholz was quoted as saying. “I am suspicious of acting too hastily and Germany going it alone.” Germany broke with tradition after Russia's invasion on February 24 to supply anti-tank weapons, surface-to-air missiles and other military equipment to Ukraine. (AP)
A group of 40 civilians was evacuated on Sunday from Mariupol's Azovstal steel works in a convoy with vehicles bearing United Nations symbols, signalling a deal had been struck to ease the ordeal of the most destructive siege in the Ukraine conflict.
In one of the first major signs of an evacuation deal, a group of around 40 civilians arrived on Sunday at a temporary accommodation centre after leaving the area around the Azovstal plant, a Reuters photographer said.
Reuters photographs showed the civilians arriving in the village of Bezimenne in the Donetsk Region, around 30 km east of Mariupol, with Ukrainian number plates in a convoy with Russian forces and vehicles with United Nations symbols. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Thursday that intense discussions were under way to enable the evacuation of Azovstal. (Reuters)
A US congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the courage of the Ukrainian people in remarks during a visit to Poland on Sunday, a day after a surprise trip to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymr Zelenskyy.
The American legislators assessed Ukraine's needs for the next phase of the war, with Pelosi vowing that Washington would stand with the country until it defeats Russia.
Pelosi, a California Democrat who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, was the most senior American lawmaker to visit Ukraine since Russia's war began more than two months ago.
Her previously unannounced visit came just days after Moscow bombed the Ukrainian capital while the U.N. secretary-general was there. Pelosi and a half-dozen U.S. lawmakers met for three hours late Saturday with Zelenskyy and his top aides to get a first-hand assessment of the war effort to date. (AP)
Pope Francis on Sunday described the war in Ukraine a 'macabre regression of humanity' that makes him 'suffer and cry', calling for humanitarian corridors to evacuate people trapped in the Mariupol steelworks. Speaking to thousands of people in St. Peter's Square for his noon blessing, Francis again implicitly criticised Russia, saying that Mariupol had been 'barbarously bombarded and destroyed'. (Reuters)
An evacuation of civilians from Ukraine's mostly Russian-controlled southeastern port city of Mariupol could be possible on Sunday, local officials said.
Mariupol's city council and the local governor told residents who wished to leave for the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia to gather at an evacuation point in Mariupol at 4 p.m. local time (1300 GMT). (Reuters)
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida discussed the war in Ukraine with Vietnamese leaders on Sunday and said they agreed on the respect for international law and rejection of the use of force.
Japan has condemned Russia's invasion and joined Western nations in imposing sanctions against Moscow. Vietnam, like most other Southeast Asian nations, has avoided directly criticising Russia and has called for restraint, the respect of the UN charter and dialogue to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict. Vietnam abstained from a vote at the UN General Assembly in March that deplored Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Vietnam is one of Moscow's historic allies and Vietnam's military has been equipped mostly with Russian weapons. It has also strong ties with Ukraine, where about 10,000 Vietnamese live, work and study. In recent years, Vietnam has forged closer ties with the United States in opposing China's vast territorial claims in the South China Sea. (AP)
Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday it had struck at weapons supplied to Ukraine by the United States and European countries and destroyed a runway at a military airfield near the Ukrainian city of Odesa. The ministry said it used high-precision Onyx missiles to strike the airfield, after Ukraine accused Russia of knocking out a newly-constructed runway at the main airport of Odesa.
Odesa regional governor Maksym Marchenko said Russia had used a Bastion missile, launched from Crimea. Reuters could not immediately verify the reports. Russia's defence ministry also said its air defence systems had shot down two Ukrainian Su-24m bombers over the Kharkiv region overnight. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden praised journalists covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine as he resumed a Washington tradition of speaking at the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday night.
Biden thanked journalists for their courage in covering Ukraine and beyond, before making a plea for national unity. "A poison is running through our democracy... with disinformation massively on the rise," Biden said. "You, the free press, matter more than you ever did in the last century. I really mean it." (Reuters)
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has met with Ukraine's president.
Footage released early Sunday by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office showed Pelosi in Kyiv with a Congressional delegation. Those with Pelosi included Reps. Jason Crow, Jim McGovern and Adam Schiff.
Pelosi later said, "We believe that we are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom. We are on a frontier of freedom and your fight is a fight for everyone. Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done."
Some women and children were evacuated from a steel plant that is the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian official and Russian state news organizations said, but hundreds are believed to remain trapped with little food or water.
The United Nations was working to broker an evacuation of the up to 1,000 civilians living beneath the sprawling Soviet-era Azovstal plant after numerous previous attempts failed. Ukraine has not said how many fighters are also in the plant, the only part of Mariupol not occupied by Russian forces, but Russia put the number at about 2,000. An estimated 100,000 civilians remain in the city. (AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy switched to Russian in his nightly video address to urge Russian soldiers not to fight in Ukraine, saying even their generals expected that thousands of them would die.
He said Russia has been recruiting new troops "with little motivation and little combat experience" for the units that were gutted during the early weeks of the war so these units can be thrown back into battle.
He said Russian commanders fully understand that thousands of them will die and thousands more will be wounded in the coming weeks. (AP)
Sweden has said that a Russian military plane violated its airspace. The incident happened late Friday in the Baltic Sea near the island of Bornholm.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Swedish Armed Forces said a Russian AN-30 propeller plane flew toward Swedish airspace and briefly entered it before leaving the area.
The Swedish Air Force scrambled fighter jets which photographed the Russian plane. Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told Swedish public radio that the violation was "unacceptable" and "unprofessional".
Hollywood actress and UN humanitarian Angelina Jolie made a surprise visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, the Lviv regional governor said on Telegram.
According to Maksym Kozytskyy, Jolie - who has been a UNHCR Special Envoy for Refugees since 2011 - had come to speak with displaced people who have found refuge in Lviv, including children undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in the missile strike on the Kramatorsk railway station in early April. "She was very moved by (the children's) stories," Kozytskyy wrote. "One girl was even able to privately tell Ms. Jolie about a dream she'd had."
He said Jolie also visited a boarding school, talk with students and took photos with them, adding "she promised she would come again". (AP)
Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed the progress of the UN effort to evacuate people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol during a talk with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an official statement said.
During the interaction, Johnson also offered the UK's "continued economic and humanitarian support" to Ukraine, it said. "The prime minister reiterated that he is more committed than ever to reinforcing Ukraine and ensuring (Russian President Vladimir) Putin fails, noting how hard the Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom,'' Johnson's Downing Street office said.
"He confirmed that the UK will continue to provide additional military aid to give the Ukrainians the equipment they needed to defend themselves," the statement said. (AP)
A Russian rocket attack destroyed an airport runway in Odesa, Ukraine's third-largest city and a key Black Sea port, the Ukrainian army said.
In a Telegram post, Ukraine's Operational Command South said there was no way that the Odesa runway could be used as a result of the rocket attack.
Local authorities urged residents of the area to shelter in place as Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, citing army sources, reported that 'several' explosions were heard in Odesa.
Odesa's regional governor said that the rocket was fired from Russian-occupied Crimea. (AP)
Prices for Russian credit default swaps - insurance contracts that protect an investor against a default - plunged sharply overnight after Moscow used its precious foreign currency reserves to make a last minute debt payment on Friday.
The cost for a five-year credit default swap on Russian debt was USD 5.84 million to protect USD 10 million in debt.
That price was nearly half the one on Thursday, which at roughly USD 11 million for USD 10 million in debt protection was a signal that investors were certain of a eventual Russian default. (AP)