What’s happening in Ukraine today and how are countries around the world responding? Read live updates on Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
MOSCOW — Russia’s defence minister has accused the U.S. and other Western nations of supplying Ukraine with weapons so that it continues fighting “until the last Ukrainian.”
Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday at a meeting with the top military brass that Washington and its allies are doing all they can to drag out Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
He noted that “the growing supplies of foreign weapons clearly signal their intention to provoke the Kyiv regime to keep fighting until the last Ukrainian.”
Shoigu said that the Russian military has “consistently implemented the plan to fully liberate the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.”
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years in the mostly Russian-speaking region eastern industrial heartland, Donbas, that includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. They have declared two independent republics that have been recognized by Russia.
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SOFIA, Bulgaria — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says security for his country also means security for Bulgaria and all other Black Sea countries.
“We are fighting not only for our safety," Kuleba said after talks Tuesday with his Bulgarian counterpart, Teodora Genchovska. "We are fighting for you too, so that you never have to face the tragedy of Russia’s attempts to affect and damage your country.”
Kuleba expressed understanding that many in Bulgaria have emotional and historic links to Russia.
“But now it’s different — destroying, killing, torturing, raping," he said. "This is not a Russia that deserves sympathy and understanding. I want everyone to understand that.”
No details of the talks have been disclosed, but media reports alleged that Kuleba may ask for a stronger engagement of Bulgaria in Ukraine’s defence from Russia’s aggression. Along with Hungary, Bulgaria is the only EU member that has so far been reluctant to send weapons to Kyiv.
During his unofficial visit to Sofia, Kuleba will also meet Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev and Prime Minister Kiril Petkov.
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MOSCOW — The Russian foreign minister says that Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine is entering a new stage.
Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Indian television broadcast Tuesday that “the operation is continuing, and another phase of this operation is starting now.”
Lavrov’s statement follows Ukrainian statements that Russia on Monday launched an offensive in the country’s eastern industrial heartland, Donbas. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years in the mostly Russian-speaking region and have declared two independent republics that have been recognized by Moscow.
Lavrov emphasized that the Russian operation is aimed at the “full liberation of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics.”
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AMSTERDAM — Automaker Stellantis says it is suspending production in Russia because of the impact of sanctions and logistical problems.
Stellantis was making vans in Russia under the Peugeot and Citroen brands at a factory in Kaluga which it shared with Mitsubishi. The Japanese manufacturer suspended its production there earlier this month.
Stellantis said Tuesday it wanted to “ensure full compliance” with international sanctions and “protect its employees” by suspending production. The company had previously warned the Kaluga factory was running low on parts. Many automakers with operations in Russia have struggled to import the components they need since the invasion xjmtzywof Ukraine began.
Based in the Netherlands, Stellantis is the world’s fourth-largest automaker with brands including Chrysler, Jeep and Fiat. It previously stopped vehicle shipments to and from Russia last month.
Russian authorities have criticized companies which shut down their operations, and warned they could take steps to put production facilities under state control.
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KYIV, Ukraine — A regional governor in eastern Ukraine says five civilians have been killed by Russian shelling.
Kharkiv region Governor Oleh Synyehubov said Tuesday that another 17 residents were wounded in the Russian rocket barrage of the centre of Kharkiv and its outskirts.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has faced Russian attacks since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24.
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STOCKHOLM — The Swedish government wants to allocate 9.8 billion kronor (US$1 billion) to the Swedish Migration Board for increased costs for receiving people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
Sweden’s Finance Minister Mikael Damberg presented the budget for 2022 on Tuesday.
The Swedish government repeatedly has said that Sweden will take its share of refugees from Ukraine but not as many as it did in 2015 when it took in a record 163,000 migrants— the highest per capita of any European country.
The government largely wants to take the money for the Ukraine refugees from development aid.
The budget proposal also includes a previously announced increase of non-NATO member Sweden’s military spending in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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MOSCOW — The Russian military has made a new demand to the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol to lay down their arms.
Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev gave the Ukrainian troops holed up at the giant Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol until midday (0900 GMT) Tuesday to surrender.
He said that those who surrender will “keep their lives.”
Ukrainian troops who have defended the city for seven weeks have ignored such previous offers. The Azovstal plant, which covers the territory of about 11 square kilometres is the last major Ukrainian pocket of resistance in Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov.
Earlier Tuesday, Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas region, said that assault groups had moved into Azovstal in a bid to uproot the Ukrainian troops following bombing and artillery barrage.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danes need to be independent of Russian gas “as quickly as possible,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday, adding the Scandinavian country “must develop as much renewable energy as can be done.”
“Putin, he must be stopped. The war in Ukraine affects us all,” Frederiksen said.
Denmark is relatively self-sufficient and has other energy sources — onshore and offshore windmill parks, bioenergy, among others, and depend little on the import of Russian gas. Roughly 40% of EU gas imports come from Russia, and Denmark gets around 15% of its total energy from natural gas.
Copenhagen-based Ørsted, where the Danish government owns 50.1% of the stakes, has come under pressure to extricate itself from its 2006 contract with Gazprom that provides Russian gas. It has said that it would remain tied to the Russian company until when the contract expires in 2030 but has chosen not to extend the current deal.
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ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities say they have seized a Russian tanker in the Aegean Sea as part of European Union sanctions imposed against Russia.
The Greek coast guard said the Russian-flagged Pegas, an oil tanker with 19 Russian crew members on board, was seized April 15 and is currently anchored in the bay of Karystos, on the southern coast of the island of Evia. The coast guard said the seizure order concerned the ship itself, and not its cargo.
The European Union, of which Greece is a member, has adopted a wide range of sanctions against Russia over the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, designed to pressure the Russian economy and the government of President Vladimir Putin.
The sanctions include import and export bans for a wide variety of goods, and a ban on access to EU ports by Russian-flagged ships.
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TOKYO — Japan will send gas masks, hazmat suits and drones to Ukraine to help defend the country against Russia’s invasion amid growing concern of chemical weapons use by the Russian military.
Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said Tuesday that Japan is sending the anti-chemical-warfare equipment at the request of the Ukrainian government.
Japan last month provided bulletproof vests, helmets and other nonlethal arms equipment to Ukraine as an exception to Tokyo’s ban on arms exports to countries in conflict, saying Ukraine is being invaded. The shipment has raised controversy in Japan, whose pacifist Constitution renounces war.
“Banding together with the international community and firmly taking action against Russia’s invasion, which violates international law, is extremely important from the viewpoint of our own national security as well,” Kishi said.
The government has revised its operational guideline of arms transfer to allow provisions of nonlethal equipment to Ukraine and says the new rule covers gas masks and protective gear. Japan is also sending commercially available drones that are not considered arms equipment.
Japan has been quick in joining the United States and European Union in imposing sanctions against Russia and supporting Ukraine and its people because Tokyo fears the impact its invasion could have on East Asia, where China has been increasingly pushing its own territorial claims.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said Tuesday that Russian forces are focusing their efforts on taking full control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east.
It noted that a “new phase of war” began Monday when “the occupiers made an attempt to break through our defences along nearly the entire frontline in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions.”
It said in a statement issued early Tuesday that “the Russian military has continued to blockade and shell Mariupol and to deal missile strikes on other cities.”
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KVIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian military official said street battles have begun and evacuation is impossible in the town of Kreminna. That’s one of only two spots where the Ukrainians said the Russians managed to break through on Monday along a front stretching for hundreds of miles.
Luhansk regional military administrator Serhiy Haidai said the town came under heavy artillery overnight, setting seven residential buildings on fire, and that the Olympus sports complex, where the nation’s Olympic team trains, was targeted.
Haidai later said on Ukrainian TV that Russians took control of the city after “levelling everything to the ground,” so his guys retreated to regroup and keep on fighting. “It simply makes no sense to stand in one place, to die for everyone, without causing significant damage to the enemy,” he said.
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KVIV, Ukraine — Russian forces are attacking along a broad front, over 480 kilometres long, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces were increasing assaults in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions — both of which are part of the Donbas — as well as in the area of Zaporizhzhia, they said.
“The occupiers attempted to break through our defences,” said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security council. “Fortunately, our military is holding out. They passed through only two cities — this is Kreminna and another small town.”
He added: “We are not giving up any of our territories.”
Russia also bombarded the relative safe haven of Lviv and a multitude of other targets across Ukraine in what appeared to be an intensified bid to grind down the country’s defences.
Moscow said its missiles struck more than 20 military targets, including ammunition depots, command headquarters and groups of troops and vehicles, while its artillery hit an additional 315 targets and its warplanes conducted 108 strikes. The claims could not be independently verified.
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KVIV, Ukraine — Russia has begun dropping bunker-buster bombs on a Mariupol steel plant where Ukrainians are refusing to surrender, the commander of the Azov Regiment of the National Guard said Monday.
Denys Prokopenko, whose soldiers have been holding out against Russian forces in the key southern port city, said in a video message that the bombs are dropping even though civilians are sheltering in the plant’s tunnels.
“Russian occupational forces, and their proxy … know about the civilians, and they keep willingly firing on the factory,” he said.
Russia estimated that 2,500 Ukrainian troops and about 400 foreign mercenaries were dug in. The U.S. said nearly a dozen Russian battalion tactical groups have been tied up trying to defeat them.
The head of the city’s patrol police, Mikhail Vershinin, told Mariupol television on Sunday that many civilians including children are hiding in the plant, seeking shelter from Russian shelling and forces occupying other parts of the city.
Ukraine estimates that 21,000 people have been killed in Mariupol. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk warned Russia on social media that refusing to open humanitarian corridors will justify war crimes trials. The Russians, for their part, said “neo-Nazi nationalists” have hampered evacuations.
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Lyubov Lomachuk, 69, serves tea to her neighbour Valentyna Volynets, 59, after boiling water for her on a makeshift fire in a public garden near their building in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
