Live blog: Russia shifts elite units to new battleground in east – Ukraine

Friday, April 22, 2022

Ukraine: Russia moving elite units east

Ukraine’s security chief has said that the main battles in the country are taking place in the Donbass, the industrial heartland in the east, with Russia deploying more and more troops every day.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said that over 100,000 Russian troops are currently fighting in Ukraine, including mercenaries from Syria and Libya.

Some of Russia’s elite military units have left the strategic Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which was declared “liberated” by the Kremlin, and are now moving to the east of the country to participate in the fighting there, Danilov said.

1 dead, 27 missing after Moskva cruiser sinking: Moscow

Russia has said that one crew member died and 27 went missing after the Moskva missile cruiser sank last week, Moscow's first admission of the losses following the incident.

"As a result of a fire on April 13, the Moskva missile cruiser was seriously damaged due to the detonation of ammunition," the defence ministry said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

"One serviceman was killed, another 27 crew members went missing," the ministry said, adding that "the remaining 396 members" had been evacuated.

Istanbul peace talks quickest way to end Ukraine war: Turkish president

Peace talks in Istanbul offer the quickest way to end the war in Ukraine, Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

The mediation process started in Türkiye is also the most reliable method to overcome the crisis and halt the hostilities, Erdogan said in a phone call with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Erdogan said Ankara remains engaged with Kiev and Moscow on the issue of humanitarian corridors, stressing that such contacts will be beneficial for efforts to stop the war and limit its global impact, according to a statement by the Communications Directorate.

Pentagon sees over 20 nations attending Ukraine talks in Germany

The US military expects more than 20 countries to attend Ukraine-focused defence talks it will host in Germany next week that will focus in part on Kiev's long-term defence needs, the Pentagon has said.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby appeared to play down expectations of announcements about long-term assistance at the April 26 talks, saying: "We're not going into this with a pre-cooked set of endings here."

He added that about 40 nations were invited to attend the talks, which were not being organised under the NATO alliance umbrella, and include non-NATO nation states.

Russia court jails opposition politician Kara-Murza: lawyer

A Russian court has ordered the pre-trial detention for opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian army, his lawyer said.

Moscow's Basmanny district court ordered that the 40-year-old Kremlin opponent be held in pre-trial detention until June 12, lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said on Facebook.

Vladimir Kara-Murza was detained outside his home in Moscow on April 11, hours after CNN aired an interview in which he criticised Russia's actions in Ukraine.

France to deliver CAESAR artillery guns, shells to Ukraine

The top leadership of the French government has broken weeks of strategic silence over military aid to Kiev and confirmed it has delivered MILAN anti-tank guided missiles to Ukraine.

France will further supply CAESAR artillery howitzers and thousands of shells to the besieged country to fight Russian armed forces.

UK PM says Ukraine conflict could last until end of next year

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said there may be no swift end to the conflict in Ukraine because of the stiff resistance to Russia's offensive.

Asked if he agreed with defence intelligence assessments that fighting could drag on until the end of next year, he told reporters: "The sad thing is that is a realistic possibility."

Johnson added that Russia's Vladimir Putin had made a "catastrophic blunder" in ordering the attack, saying "The only option he now has really is to continue to try to use his appalling grinding approach."

Talks between Russia, Ukraine have stalled: Lavrov

Talks between Moscow and Kiev to put an end to nearly two months of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine have stalled, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"They (negotiations) have stalled now," Lavrov said after talks with his Kazakh counterpart, adding that Moscow still had not received an answer to its latest proposal sent around five days ago.

Russians bombing Azovstal plant: Mariupol official

Russian forces are continuing to bomb a massive steel mill where Ukrainian fighters are holed up, a city official in besieged Mariupol has said. Ukrainian authorities estimate that 1,000 civilians are inside the plant along with the fighters.

“Every day they drop several bombs on Azovstal, despite false promises not to touch the defenders," Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor said. He added that “fighting, shelling, bombing do not stop.”

Resistance active in Mariupol: Pentagon

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, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby has said.

“They made this big show yesterday of him (Putin) saying he wasn’t gonna go into that (Azovstal) plant and try to eradicate the people that are there,” Kirby told CNN news.

“I think we have to watch and see what the Russians actually do here. What we would tell you this morning is that we still assess that Mariupol is contested, that it hasn’t been taken by the Russians and that there’s still an active Ukrainian resistance. So they continue to fight for that city.”

Putin to meet with UN chief Guterres in Russia next week

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres next week, the Kremlin has said.

"On Tuesday, April 26, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will arrive in Moscow for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti.

"He will also be received by Russian President Vladimir Putin."

Russian military say it has captured Ukrainian arms depot - TASS

The Russian military has captured a large arms depot in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, state-owned news agency TASS reported, citing Russia's defence ministry.

The defence ministry said that the arms depot contained thousands of tonnes of ammunition, according to TASS. 

Dutch to cut Russian oil, gas imports by year-end: PM

The Netherlands aims to cut Russian oil and gas imports by the end of the year, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, but he admitted Europe remained dependent on Moscow's supply.

"What the Netherlands would actually like to achieve is being independent of Russian gas and Russian oil before the end of the year," Rutte told journalists at his weekly press conference. 

The Netherlands imported some $11.8 billion (11 billion euros) in oil from Russia in the first 11 months of last year, the Volkskrant daily newspaper said. Around 3.7 billion euros were also spent on importing gas and coal from Russia, the paper added.

Russia says ‘ready’ for truce at Mariupol plant

Russia's defence ministry has said it is ready for a humanitarian ceasefire at Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant, the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in the strategic port, if Kiev's soldiers surrender.

"We once again declare that Russia is ready at any moment to introduce a regime of silence and announce a humanitarian pause for the evacuation of civilians," the defence ministry said in a statement.

The ceasefire would start with the "raising of white flags" by Ukraine's forces "along the entire perimeter or in certain areas of Azovstal," the ministry said, adding that "If such signs are found in any part of the Azovstal metallurgical plant, Russia's Armed Forces... will immediately stop any hostilities and provide a safe exit."

Erdogan to discuss peace talks with Ukrainian, Russian leaders

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he plans to call his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts and discuss the holding of peace talks at the leadership level in Türkiye.

Talking to reporters in Istanbul, Erdogan said the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine yielded “positive” results so far, but not exactly as it should have been.

Noting that the negotiation process will get better, he said: “We are not hopeless.”

Putin tells EU's Michel Ukraine is being 'inconsistent' at talks - Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told European Council President Charles Michel that he will only hold direct talks with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy if ongoing discussions between the two countries produce concrete results, the Kremlin said.

Putin told Michel that Kiev was showing that it was not ready to seek mutually acceptable solutions and accused the Ukrainian side of being "inconsistent" in negotiations.

UK to reopen embassy in Kiev next week

The UK embassy in Kiev, shut earlier this year due to Russia's offensive on Ukraine, will reopen next week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

"We will very shortly, next week, reopen our embassy in Ukraine's capital city," he said on a two-day visit to India.

London moved its main diplomatic mission in Ukraine from Kiev to the western city of Lviv in February, shortly before Russia ordered in its troops.

Russian actions in Ukraine 'may amount to war crimes': UN

The United Nations has accused Russia of taking action in Ukraine "that may amount to war crimes", including indiscriminate bombing that killed civilians and destroyed schools and hospitals.

"Russian armed forces have indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes," said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Russia seeks full control of Donbass: Russian general

The Russian army will aim to take full control over eastern and southern Ukraine, Russian news agencies quotes a top general as saying, a day after Moscow announced the "liberation" of Mariupol.

"Since the start of the second phase of the special operation... one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbass and southern Ukraine," Major General Rustam Minnekaev said, adding that this would create a "land corridor" to annexed Crimea.

Over 21,000 Russian troops killed so far: Ukraine

More than 21,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since Russia launched attacks on its western neighbour, the Ukrainian military has claimed.

In a statement, the Ukrainian General Staff said that the Ukrainian army has destroyed 176 Russian aircraft, 153 helicopters, 838 tanks, 2,162 armoured vehicles, 397 artillery systems , and eight boats.

Russian forces also lost 138 multiple rocket launcher systems, 76 fuel tanks, 69 anti-aircraft warfare systems, and 172 unmanned aerial vehicles, the statement said.

Sweden to help repair Ukraine's power network

Sweden is helping Ukraine to rebuild “a secure electricity supply” by sending equipment to repair electricity networks destroyed during the conflict.

Swedish Energy Minister Khashayar Farmanbar said “a secure electricity supply is necessary to maintain socially important activities in Ukraine.”

Svenska kraftnat, the authority responsible for Sweden’s electricity transmission system, received a request from Ukraine via the European Network of Transmission System Operators to contribute equipment for repairing electricity networks.

Ukrainian soldiers getting trained in UK: Johnson

Ukrainian soldiers have travelled to Britain to learn how to use UK-supplied armoured vehicles to aid in their war against Russia, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

"A couple of dozen" troops arrived last week to train on the 120 Mastiff, Wolfhound and Husky armoured vehicles being supplied to Kiev, an official confirmed.

"I can say that we're currently training Ukrainians in Poland in the use of the anti-aircraft defences and actually in this country (the UK) in the use of the armoured vehicles," he told UK media during a visit to India.

Mayor appeals for 'full evacuation' of Mariupol

The mayor of Mariupol has made a new appeal for the "full evacuation" of the southern Ukrainian city which President Vladimir Putin says is now controlled by Russian forces.

"We need only one thing - the full evacuation of the population. About 100,000 people remain in Mariupol," Mayor Vadym Boichenko said on national television.

Boichenko, who is no longer in Mariupol, did not provide any update on any fighting in or around the city on the Sea of Azov. But he said, without giving details, that Russian forces' "mockery" of those left in Mariupol continued.

Russia blockaded Azovstal plant to contain Ukraine resistance: UK

Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to blockade the Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine likely indicates a desire to contain resistance in Mariupol, a British military report has said.

"A full ground assault by Russia on the plant would likely incur significant Russian casualties, further decreasing their overall combat effectiveness," the update added.

Heavy shelling continued in the eastern Donbass as Russia seeks to advance further towards settlements, including Krasnyy Lyman, Buhayikva, Barvinkove, Lyman and Popasna, th e UK Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin.

No civilian evacuations in Ukraine on Friday: Kiev

No evacuations of civilians will take place in Ukraine as the situation on the roads is too dangerous, a senior official has said.

"Because of the insecurity along the routes, there will be no humanitarian corridors today, April 22," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"To all those who are waiting for an evacuation, please be patient and hold on," she said.

Ukraine: Russia planning sham independence vote in occupied regions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of planning to "falsify" an independence referendum in the partly occupied southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

In a video message, Zelenskyy urged residents of areas under occupation to not provide any personal information, like their passport numbers, to the Russian forces.

"This is not to help you... This is aimed to falsify the so-called referendum on your land if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show," the Ukrainian leader said. "This is the reality. Be careful."

Russia, Ukraine trade blame over rising food prices

Russia and Ukraine have squared off at the UN over whether Russia's offensive is to blame for rising food prices and hunger around the world.

Between them, the two countries account for nearly a third of global wheat and barley exports and millions of people in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia depend on them for affordable bread and noodles. Ukraine also is a major corn supplier and the biggest exporter of sunflower oil.

"As long as Russia persists in its efforts to invade Ukraine, the threat of hunger will be looming over many countries throughout the globe," Ukrainian counsellor Natalia Mudrenko said at an informal UN Security Council meeting to discuss conflict and hunger.

Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Chumakov argued that sanctions, trade wars, the coronavirus pandemic and Western economic policies were shaking up the global food, energy and financial markets.

Zelenskyy thanks US for $800M in military aid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked the United States for the new package of $800 million in military aid, which he said was "just what we were waiting for."

The latest military aid, announced by President Joe Biden, includes heavy artillery, ammunition and drones for the escalating battle in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

"The occupiers continue to do everything possible to give themselves a reason to speak about at least some kind of victory," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. 

For live updates from Thursday (April 21), click here