Russia-Ukraine war: Latest developments

Here are some latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

– Russian flagship ‘seriously damaged’ –

The Russian navy’s Black Sea flagship is “seriously damaged” by an ammunition explosion, state media says.

A Ukrainian government official claims the vessel was hit by the country’s missiles.

The “Moskva” gained notoriety early in the war when it called on Ukrainian border troops defending the strategic Snake Island to surrender, only to be defiantly refused.

– US unveils $800m new aid to Ukraine –

The United States unveils a major new package of aid to Ukraine, including equipment such as helicopters, howitzers and armoured personnel carriers.

The package includes equipment Washington had previously refused to provide to Kyiv for fear of escalating the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia.

– Ukraine a ‘crime scene’ –

“Ukraine is a crime scene,” the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor says on a visit to the town of Bucha west of Kyiv, one of several towns where Russia is accused of massacring civilians.

Prosecutor Karim Khan says there are “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are being committed”.

The ICC investigates allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.

– Russia committing ‘genocide’ –

US President Joe Biden accuses Russian forces – for the first time – of committing genocide in Ukraine.

“It’s become clearer and clearer that (President Vladimir) Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian,” he tells reporters.

– Biden assures Zelensky of support –

President Joe Biden has called Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to assure him of “ongoing US support” for Kyiv, the White House says.

Zelensky tweets they discussed an “additional package of defensive and possible macro-financial aid” worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

– Russia threatens Kyiv –

The Russian military threatens to strike Ukraine’s command centres in Kyiv as “we are seeing Ukrainian troops’ attempts to carry out sabotage and strike Russian territory,” Moscow’s defence ministry says.

“If such cases continue, the Russian armed forces will strike decision-making centres, including in Kyiv,” the ministry states.

– Le Pen for NATO-Moscow rapprochement –

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen says she will back closer ties between NATO and Russia and pull Paris out of the alliance’s military command if elected president in an April 24 runoff with Emmanuel Macron.

Following accusations she is too close to Vladimir Putin, Le Pen said a “strategic rapprochement” is needed and questions need to be asked about the role of the alliance after the end of the Warsaw Pact.

– Mariupol troops surrender –

Russia says more than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered in the besieged South-Eastern city of Mariupol after a ferocious six-week battle for the strategic port.

Ukraine has yet to confirm the report.

– Ceasefire seems impossible: UN –

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says a “global ceasefire doesn’t seem possible”, indicating the UN is still waiting for answers from Russia to concrete proposals for evacuating civilians and delivering aid.

“That was our appeal for humanitarian reasons, but it doesn’t seem possible,” said Guterres.

– Polish, Baltic leaders in Kyiv –

The leaders of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania travel to Kyiv together by train to show support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to AFP, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says he had planned to join them but was told by Kyiv he was “not wanted”, with a top aide to Zelensky saying Kyiv wants German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to visit instead.

– Separatists sanctioned –

Britain says it and the European Union plan to impose sanctions on 178 pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Separatist forces have been fronting the fight against Ukrainian marines in Mariupol.

– US warns China –

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that China’s stance towards Russia and its invasion of Ukraine could affect countries’ willingness to collaborate and trade with Beijing.

– 1,500 Russian soldiers in morgues –

An official in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro says the remains of more than 1,500 Russian soldiers are being kept in its morgues.

Dnipro Deputy Mayor Mikhail Lysenko tells reporters he hopes “Russian mothers will be able to come and pick up their sons”.

– Finnish NATO decision ‘within weeks’ –

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin says the country, which has been non-aligned since the end of the Cold War, will decide whether to apply for NATO membership “within weeks”.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also relaunched a debate over NATO membership in neighbouring Sweden.

– Ukraine says restarting civilian evacuations –

Ukraine said Thursday it was reopening humanitarian corridors allowing for the evacuation of civilians from war-scarred regions after a day-long pause that Kyiv attributed to Russian violations.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on social media that nine routes in the east and south of the country would be operating a day after they were shut because routes, she had said, were “too dangerous”.

“Humanitarian corridors in the Lugansk region will be run under the condition of cessation of shelling by the occupying forces,” Vereshchuk said Thursday.

Ukrainian authorities have been urging people in the South-Eastern Donbas area to quickly move west in advance of a feared, large-scale Russian offensive to capture its composite regions, Donetsk and Lugansk.

In the eastern Ukraine city of Kramatorsk, Russian forces allegedly struck a train station used for evacuations recently, leaving more than 50 people dead.

The Star