Live blog: 10 civilians killed in strikes in eastern Ukraine – governor

Sunday, April 10, 2022

10 civilians killed in strikes in eastern Ukraine - governor

Weekend bombardments in eastern Ukraine killed 10 civilians and wounded 11 others around Kharkiv, the region's governor said.

Saturday's bombardments hit four towns around and to the southeast of Kharkiv, Oleg Synegubov posted on Telegram, adding that one of those killed was a child.

"In the course of the day, the occupiers bombarded the civil infrastructure at Balakliya, Pesochin, Zolochiv and Dergachi," he added.

"At the current time we know of 10 people killed, including a child, and 11 wounded."

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, had a population of around 1.5 million before the offensive. 

EU to discuss new Russia sanctions

EU foreign ministers are to discuss Monday a sixth round of sanctions on Moscow.

Although the sanctions that would hurt Russia the most -- an EU boycott of its oil and gas exports -- are not on the table formally, European Union diplomats do acknowledge there are discussions about them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for such EU embargoes, but the bloc remains divided over a ban on Russian gas and oil imports.

Death toll from Kramatorsk missile strike rises to 57

The death toll from a missile strike on the train station in Ukraine's Kramatorsk has risen to 57 people, Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

Kyrylenko said 109 people were wounded in the attack, which Ukraine has blamed on Russia. Moscow has denied responsibility, saying the missile was Ukrainian. 

Austrian leader to meet Putin in Moscow

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, he said, adding he hoped to help build bridges between Russia and Ukraine and stop the "war of aggression".

Nehammer's meeting would be the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and a European Union leader since Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, triggering a broad Western effort to isolate Moscow.

"I'm going to meet Vladimir #Putin in Moscow tomorro w," Nehammer wrote on Twitter. 

Over 1,200 bodies found in Kiev region so far - prosecutor

Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said 1,222 bodies have been found in the region around the capital Kiev so far.

"We have actually now, only for this morning, 1,222 dead people only in Kiev region," Venediktova said in an interview with Britain's Sky News. 

UN: More than 4.5M Ukrainians flee conflict

More than 4.5 million Ukrainian refugees have fled their country since the Russian offensive on February 24, according to the United Nations refugee agency.  

The UNHCR said there were 4,503,954 Ukrainian refugees on Sunday. That was 62,291 more than the previous day.

Europe has not seen such a flood of refugees since World War II.

Ninety percent of those who have fled Ukraine are women and children, as the Ukrainian authorities do not allow men of military age to leave. 

Ukraine braces for 'important battles'

Ukraine is preparing for "important battles" against Moscow's forces in the east of the country, officials in Kiev said. 

Evacuations continued from Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, where a missile strike on Friday killed 52 people at a railway station, while an airport in the central city of Dnipro was completely destroyed in fresh shelling Sunday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again condemned atrocities against civilians, and after speaking with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said they agreed "that all perpetrators of war crimes must be identified and punished".

Pope urges Easter ceasefire

Pope Francis has called for an Easter ceasefire in Ukraine to pave the way for peace through "real negotiation".

"Let the Easter truce begin. But not to provide more weapons and pick up the combat again -- no! -- a truce that will lead to peace, through real negotiation," he told a public mass at Saint Peter's Square.

The pontiff denounced a conflict where "defenceless civilians" suffered "heinous massacres and atrocious cruelty".

But Russia's Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a key Putin ally, issued his own appeal against Russia's "enemies". 

Ukraine says Russians stole lethal substances from Chernobyl

Russian forces who occupied the Chernobyl nuclear plant stole radioactive substances from research laboratories that could potentially kill them, Ukraine's State Agency for Managing the Exclusion Zone said.

Moscow's forces seized the defunct power plant on the first day of their offensive on Ukraine on February 24. They occupied the highly radioactive zone for over a month, before retreating on March 31.

The agency said on Facebook that Russian soldiers pillaged two laboratories in the area.

It said the Russians entered a storage area of the Ecocentre research base and stole 133 highly radioactive substances. 

US official: Russia appoints new commander for Ukraine attack

Russia has turned to Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, 60, one of Russia’s most experienced military officers and — according to US officials — a general with a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other war theatres. 

The senior official who identified the new commander was not authorized to be identified and spoke on condition of anonymity.

But the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said “no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine.”

Pro-Russian protesters in Germany outnumbered by Ukraine supporters

Around 600 pro-Russian protesters in a 350-car motorcade set off on a demonstration in Hanover in the north of Germany on Sunday, where there was also a counter-demonstration of around 700 people supporting Ukraine in the city centre, local police said.

The motorcade, flying Russian and also a few German flags, is protesting against discrimination in Germany towards Russians following the Ukraine attack.

Police said fences had been put up to separate the pro-Russian protesters from the counter-demonstration and they added that the protests had been peaceful so far. 

Ukraine reports 5,600 'war crime' cases as shelling continues

Ukraine's prosecutor general has said her team documented 5,600 cases of "war crimes" perpetrated by the Russian government and its leading figures.

Speaking to British broadcaster Sky, Iryna Venediktova said the main case names over 500 people, including "top" Russian military personnel, politicians and "propaganda agents".

She added Vladimir Putin was a "main war criminal of the 21st century", but in accordance with international law, as long as the Russian president is in power he enjoys diplomatic immunity and cannot be persecuted unless the initiative is taken by the International Criminal Court.

Shelling in Ukraine's Luhansk, Dnipro regions wounds one

Russian forces have fired shells into Ukraine's Luhansk and Dnipro regions hitting several buildings, wounding one person and causing a fire, officials said.

A school and a high-rise apartment building were shelled in the city of Sievierodonetsk in separatist-controlled Luhansk, the region's governor said.

In the central city of Dnipro, one person was wounded when a building was hit. The shelling sparked a fire that was eventually put out, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said in a post.

Ukraine agrees nine humanitarian corridors from the east

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said that Kiev agreed on the use of nine humanitarian corridors to help people escape heavy fighting in the east of the country, including in private cars from Mariupol.

"All the routes for the humanitarian corridors in the Luhansk region will work as long as there is a ceasefire by the occupying Russian troops," Vereshchuk said in a statement on her Telegram channel.

More than 170 'children died' due to Russia's attacks on Ukraine

Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, 177 children have died and 336 have been injured, according to the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General.

Children in the Donetsk, Kiev, and Kharkiv regions have been the most affected in the country, the office said in a statement. As a result of daily bombings and shelling, 938 educational institutions were damaged, with 87 of them completely destroyed.

More than 4.49 million Ukrainians have also fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.

Ukraine: Russian troops running low on medicine

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian army has said Russian troops were running out of medicine and medical personnel, while they struggled to deal with an influx of injured soldiers.

Oleksandr Shputun, the spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said Russia had established field hospitals in parts of the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

He also said Russian forces were continuing to attack major Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv, Izyum and Mariupol.

Russian forces 'destroy' Ukrainian military convoy

Russian attack helicopters have destroyed a convoy of Ukraine's armoured vehicles and anti-aircraft warfare, the news agency Interfax has reported, citing Russia's defence ministry.

"Attack helicopters KA-52 ... destroyed weapons and military equipment of the armed forces of Ukraine," the agency cited the ministry as saying in a statement.

Ukrainian military officials were not immediately available for comment. The report was not immediately verified.

Russia confirms prisoner exchange with Ukraine

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova has confirmed that Russia and Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange on Saturday.

Moskalkova said that among those exchanged to Russia, there were four employees of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom and soldiers.

"Early this morning they landed on the Russian soil," Moskalkova said in an online post.

UK PM Johnson praises 'spirit' of Ukraine rail workers

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has praised the resilience of Ukrainian rail workers in the conflict with Russia when he took the train from Poland to Kiev to meet President Volodmyr Zelenskyy.

"I gather you are called the 'iron people'," the British leader said in a video address that was posted on Facebook on Sunday by Ukrainian railways spokesman Oleksandr Shevchenko.

Ukrainian trains have played a key role in evacuating civilians from conflict zones, while being targeted by shooting and shelling.

Ukraine: At least 19,300 Russian troops killed

At least 19,300 Russian soldiers have so far been killed in Ukraine, the Ukrainian military has said.

Ukrainian forces have destroyed 152 Russian aircraft, 137 helicopters, 112 unmanned aerial vehicles, 722 tanks, 1,911 armoured vehicles and 342 artillery systems, according to the Ukrainian General Staff’s latest update.

The Russians have also lost 108 multiple rocket launcher systems, 1,384 vehicles, 76 fuel tanks, 55 anti-aircraft systems and seven boats, the military said.

Thousands flee east Ukraine as Kiev readies for ‘big battles’

Ukraine has been preparing for "big battles" against Moscow's forces in the east of the country, as thousands of civilians flee in fear of imminent Russian attacks.

"Ukraine is ready for big battles. Ukraine must win them, including in the Donbass. And once that happens, Ukraine will have a more powerful negotiating position," Zelenskyy's adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said on national television, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Evacuations resumed on Saturday from Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, where a missile strike killed 52 people at a railway station a day earlier, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the latest Western leader to visit Kiev.

Shelling hits school apartment building in Ukraine's Sievierodonetsk

A school and a high-rise apartment building have been shelled early on Sunday in the city of Sievierodonetsk in the besieged Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

"Fortunately, no casualties," the governor, Serhiy Gaidai, wrote on Telegram.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

Protest in Chile against Russia's attacks

Dozens of protesters have gathered in front of the Russian embassy in Chile’s capital of Santiago to denounce Russia's attacks on Ukraine.

Protesters unfurled a large banner featuring the colours of the Ukrainian flag. The group included Ukrainians living in Chile.

Some protesters lay down on the ground and clutched stuffed animals to honor child victims of the attacks. A large banner read, “Stand with Ukraine.”

Russia: Over 704,000 people evacuated from ‘dangerous areas’ in Ukraine

Russia’s Defense Ministry has said that more than 704,000 people have been evacuated from "dangerous areas" in Ukraine.

Around 26,676 people, including 3,447 children, were taken to Russia in the last 24 hours, Col-Gen Mikhail Mizintsev, director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, said in a statement on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a total of 134, 299 people were rescued, including 716 in the past 24 hours, through a humanitarian aid corridor in the eastern direction from Mariupol.

Zelenskyy: Ukraine does not have time to wait

Ukraine's president reiterated his call for full embargo on Russian oil and gas, saying “Ukraine does not have time to wait.”

In his address amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed the need for the introduction of “more painful restrictions” on Russian cash flows.

“Ukraine does not have time to wait. Freedom does not have time to wait. When tyranny launches aggression against everything that keeps peace in Europe, action must be taken immediately. It is necessary to act in a principled fashion,” he said. “And the oil embargo should be the first step. At the level of all democracies, the whole civilised world. Then Russia will feel it. Then it will be an argument for them - to seek peace, to stop pointless violence.”

Ukraine bans all imports from Russia

Ukraine has banned all imports from Russia, one of its key trading partners before the conflict with annual imports valued at about $6 billion, and called on other countries to follow and impose harsher economic sanctions on Moscow.

"Today we officially announced a complete termination of trade in goods with the aggressor state," Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on her Facebook page.

"From now on, no Russian Federation's products will be able to be imported into the territory of our state."

Civilians lined up for food after Russia's retreat

Civilians remaining in Bucha lined up for food donated by the local church in the battered Kiev suburb where Ukrainian forces and journalists reported evidence of "war crimes" after Russian soldiers withdrew.

Volunteer Petro Denysyuk told that he and fellow church friends started providing food, with a wide array of basic foodstuffs and hot meals.

“We have gathered together with the youth from our church and prepared food for the needy,” Denysyuk said. “We prepared pilaf, boiled eggs, prepared meat, sausages, noodles.”

Ukrainian soccer club Shakhtar starts 'peace-themed' tour

Wearing the names of heavily bombarded cities on its jerseys, Ukrainian soccer club Shakhtar Donetsk opened a series of charity games on a government-backed “Global Tour for Peace” with a 1-0 loss at Greek league leader Olympiakos on Saturday.

The tour aims to raise money for Ukraine's military in the fight against Russia, and also help Ukrainian refugees displaced by the conflict.

For live updates from Saturday (April 9), click here