Live blog: Deaths after Russia strikes eastern Ukraine

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

1535 GMT –– Five people were killed as Russia struck Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, local officials have said.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia, a guided bomb attack killed two people, the region's governor said.

Further east in the Kharkiv region close to the city of Kupiansk, Russian shelling killed a 67-year-old woman in the village of Lelyukivka, Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov added.

And in the eastern Donetsk region, two people were killed and six injured in the small town of Girnyk, about 15 kilometres from the front line, said Vadym Filashkin, the head of the region's military administration.

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1420 GMT –– Russia displays NATO weapons seized from Ukrainian army

Russia has opened an exhibition showcasing NATO weapons and military equipment, seized during the military conflict in Ukraine.

Tuesday's exhibit organised by the Defence Ministry at the Victory Park in Moscow features over 30 pieces of weaponry and military hardware from nations including Australia, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, and the US.

Opened under the banner History Repeats Itself, the exhibition highlights the German Marder 2 tank destroyer, captured by the Soviet army during World War II, as its centrepiece.

1303 GMT –– Ukraine hopes to boost winter gas storage for Europe by 60 pct

Ukraine hopes to store around 4 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas for foreign companies and traders this winter, up 60 percent from last year, despite Russian air strikes on the country's energy infrastructure, the head of Ukraine's state energy firm has said.

Storing gas helps Ukraine to collect revenues while providing Europe with additional supply flexibility after the continent cut Russian gas imports because of Moscow's Ukraine aggression.

Oleksiy Chernyshov, chief executive of Naftogaz, told Reuters news agency that Russia had attacked the firm's infrastructure five times since March, in the first such attacks since the war began in February 2022.

He said the underground storage was not damaged but Naftogaz was working on strengthening defences as gas pumping facilities above ground are more vulnerable.

1100 GMT –– Russia says it struck Ukraine's southern command headquarters

Russia said it had struck the command headquarters of the Ukrainian army's southern grouping, which is based in the port of Odessa where Kiev reported a missile attack had killed three people.

"The headquarters of the operational command of the Southern grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was struck by operational and tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery," Russia's defence ministry said.

It gave no further details about the attack but said that Russian forces were improving their positions along the entire front line.

0919 GMT — Ukrainian drone hits Russian oil refinery in Ryazan: Kiev

Ukraine hit a Russian oil refinery in Ryazan, south of Moscow, in a new drone attack on Russia's energy infrastructure, authorities have said.

Ukraine has launched drones into Russia regularly since last year as the war between the two drags on, increasingly targeting sites such as factories and oil refineries deep inside Russia.

"As a result of an operation by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine on the night of May 1, a UAV (drone) was used to hit the Ryazan oil refinery in Russia," Ukraine's special services said in a statement to AFP.

0847 GMT — Russian guided bombs kill two in Ukraine's Kharkiv region

Russia attacked the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine with guided bombs killing at least two people and wounding two others, the regional governor said.

The two people were killed when a car was struck in the village of Zolochiv, where a private home was also hit, governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ten private residences were also damaged but no casualties were reported in a Russian attack on the city of Kharkiv, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

0553 GMT — Russia's defence minister orders more weapons for Ukraine operation

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered more, and swifter, delivery of weapons for Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry has said.

Russia, which calls its war in Ukraine a special military operation, now controls just under a fifth of Ukraine's territory, the bulk seized during the first months of the war it launched in February 2022.

At a meeting with the top military command for Moscow's fight in Ukraine, the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of the operation, delivered a report to Shoigu, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

2216 GMT — Ukraine alleges Russian missile killed 3 in Odessa

A Russian missile attack has killed three people and wounded three in the Ukrainian port of Odesa, regional governor Oleh Kiper alleged.

Kiper, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the attack damaged civilian infrastructure.

On Monday, a Russian missile reportedly struck an educational institution in the city, killing five people.

2210 GMT — Ukrainian official discusses abducted children with Vatican envoy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff has thanked a Vatican envoy for his efforts in trying to bring home thousands of children taken to Russia and asked him for help in returning prisoners of war.

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has visited both Russia and Ukraine on a mission mandated by Pope Francis to try to help end the war in Ukraine, now more than two years old.

He said after the visits that his talks focused mainly on humanitarian issues rather than a specific peace plan. He also visited China to facilitate prospects for peace.

Presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak, quoted on Zelenskyy's website, told Zuppi by telephone that Ukraine had devoted considerable diplomatic efforts to securing the return of children taken to Russia.

"You are continuing to work on this matter. Thank you," Yermak was quoted as saying. "This process is proceeding slowly, but it is still moving ahead."

1930 GMT — Zelenskyy seeks weaponry for front line soldiers

President Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine needed "a significant acceleration" in deliveries of weaponry from its partners to enable its troops to face advancing Russian troops in several sectors of the front line.

Zelenskyy, looking stern, made his comments in his new video address amid an acknowledgment from his top commander that Ukraine's forces have pulled back from villages in some of the most hotly contested sectors in the two-year-old war.

"We need a significant acceleration of supplies to enhance tangibly the capabilities of our soldiers," he said.

He pointed specifically to deliveries of U.S. weapons, after a six-month slowdown in supplies, as critical in righting the situation at key points in the 1,000-km front line.

"We are very much counting on prompt deliveries from the United States," he said.

"These supplies must make themselves felt in disrupting the logistics of the occupiers, in making them afraid to base themselves anywhere on occupied territory and in our strength."

For our live updates from Tuesday, April 30, click here.