Russian forces are attacking the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, according to a local official from the city who said at least 100 civilians are still holed up in the plant.
Earlier reports by Russian and Ukrainian officials had indicated that all civilians had been evacuated from the sprawling plant after spending weeks cowering in shelters alongside the last fighters defending the southern port.
“In addition to the military, at least 100 civilians remain in the (Azovstal) shelters. However, this does not reduce the intensity of attacks by the occupiers,” Petro Andryushchenko, a Mariupol mayoral aide, wrote on Telegram.
The claim has not yet been independently verified.
Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, said earlier today that more than 1,000 Ukrainian troops, many of them injured, remained in the steelworks.
Follow the latest updates below.
11:37 AM
Kyiv mayor says nearly two-thirds of residents have returned
The mayor of Kyiv has said that nearly two-thirds of the capital’s residents had returned after a massive exodus following Russia’s invasion in late February.
“Before the war, 3.5 million people lived in Kyiv. Almost two-thirds of the capital’s residents have returned,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko told a press briefing.
11:24 AM
Russian troops ill-prepared for war, says ex-Kremlin mercenary
The Russian military’s failure to seize the Ukrainian capital was inevitable because in the preceding years they had never directly faced a powerful enemy, according to a former mercenary with the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group who fought alongside the Russian army.
Marat Gabidullin, 55, took part in Wagner Group missions on the Kremlin’s behalf in Syria and in a previous conflict in Ukraine, before deciding to go public about his experience inside the secretive private military company.
He quit the Wagner group in 2019, but several months before Russia launched the invasion on February he said he received a call from a recruiter who invited him to go back to fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.
11:10 AM
Russia behind cyberattack against Ukraine at onset of war, says EU
Russia was behind a massive cyberattack against a satellite internet network which took thousands of modems offline at the onset of the war in Ukraine, the European Union said in a statement today.
The attack against Viasat’s KA-SAT network in late February took place just as Russian forces pushed into Ukraine.
10:57 AM
Finnish defence committee recommends Nato membership
Joining Nato is the best option for Finland to guarantee its national security, the Finnish Parliament’s defence committee said today, ahead of Finland’s official decision on whether or not to join the alliance in the coming days.
Finland’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) would significantly increase the deterrent for becoming a target of Russia’s aggression, the defence committee concluded in a statement.
Finland, which shares a 1,300 km (810 mile) border and a difficult past with neighbouring Russia, is reconsidering its long-standing position to refrain from joining Nato in order to maintain friendly relations with its eastern neighbour.
Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto is expected to announce on Thursday his stance on joining Nato, a move that would mean a major shift of security policy for the Nordic country in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
10:51 AM
Zelensky: Sixth package of EU sanctions against Russia needed
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the European Union’s planned sixth package of sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo, was needed as the bloc’s proposals still faced talks.
“Now the sixth package of sanctions will be adopted, and it is certainly a package that we need, and also energy sanctions are needed,” Mr Zelensky told Slovakia’s parliament in a video address.
10:34 AM
EU’s top diplomat hopes for Russian oil sanctions soon
The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said he hoped for a deal soon on an EU oil embargo on Russia.
Foreign ministers from the bloc are due to meet on May 16 and Mr Borrell said last week he could also call an emergency meeting of the ministers to sign off on the sanctions if they were ready, or to move negotiations forward.
He added that foreign ministers could try to break any deadlock, in a bid to win over reluctant states, particularly Hungary. The European Commission proposed the oil embargo on May 4.
10:13 AM
Pictured: Odesa hit by shelling
09:58 AM
Putin orders officials to tackle Siberian forest fires
Russian President Vladimir Putin told regional officials on Tuesday to deal with forest fires in Siberia and said there could be no repeat of last year’s fire season – the biggest on record.
In an online meeting shown on state TV, Putin said fires were causing significant material damage and posing a threat to life, the environment and the economy.
Acting Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupryan told Putin: “Altogether since the start of the year on Russian territory there have been 4,000 forest fires on an area of 270,000 hectares” – an area larger than Luxembourg.
At least eight people died in Siberia on Saturday as fires ripped through hundreds of buildings in several villages, with high winds hampering efforts to extinguish the blazes.
09:50 AM
Ukraine death toll ‘thousands higher’ than reported, says UN
The head of the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine said on Tuesday that thousands more civilians had been killed in the country since the war began than its official toll of 3,381.
“We have been working on estimates, but all I can say for now is that it is thousands higher than the numbers we have currently given to you,” Matilda Bogner, head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told a press briefing in Geneva, when asked about the total number of deaths and injuries.
“The big black hole is really Mariupol where it has been difficult for us to fully access and to get fully corroborated information,” she added.
09:40 AM
EU Commission working on proposal for joint borrowing to help finance Ukraine
The European Commission is considering new joint debt issuance by the 27-nation bloc, two EU officials said, to cover Ukraine’s liquidity gap of 15 billion euros ($15.9 billion) over the next three months.
A proposal by the commission will be published on May 18, one EU official said.
The new joint EU borrowing, if agreed, could be based on the EU’s SURE scheme for financing unemployment benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic, officials said.
This would mean that Ukraine would get very cheap loans from the bloc, and EU governments would need to provide guarantees that the joint borrowing would be repaid.
“It is one of the models under consideration, but nothing has been decided yet,” one senior EU official said.
The EU expects that the United States would join the effort and provide around five billion euros, which would leave the EU to raise some 10 billion euros through the joint borrowing, officials said.
09:38 AM
Over 1,000 Ukrainian fighters trapped in steel plant in Mariupol
More than 1,000 Ukrainian troops, many of them injured, remain trapped in the sprawling Azovstal steel works in the Russian-controlled port city of Mariupol, Kyiv’s government has said
“More than a thousand” Ukrainian soldiers remain in the plant, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, told AFP news agency.
“Hundreds are injured. There are people with serious injuries who require urgent evacuation. The situation is deteriorating every day.”
09:29 AM
Russia’s foreign minister visits Algeria as EU steps up push for alternative gas
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited gas-producing ally Algeria for talks on Tuesday as a European drive to secure alternative supplies gathers pace.
Lavrov, who arrived in Algiers late on Monday, was due to hold talks with both Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Algerian reports said.
His visit is the first since January 2019 and comes as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic relations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone talks with his Algerian counterpart last month on “coordination within OPEC+ as well the situation in Ukraine,” Russia’s TASS news agency said.
OPEC+ is a forum that brings together the OPEC oil cartel with allied producers led by Russia in managing output and prices.
Algeria is a major gas supplier to Europe, providing 11 percent of its imports, compared with 47 percent for Russia.
09:23 AM
Cyberattack knocks out Russian video platform Rutube
Russia’s Rutube video platform remained offline for a second day on Tuesday, after a massive cyberattack knocked it out just hours before it was to stream the Victory Day parade in Moscow.
“We have, in fact, been hit with the biggest cyberattack in Rutube’s history,” the platform said in a message on Telegram on Tuesday.
“Restoring (access) will take more time than engineers first thought,” it said, while its website rutube.ru displayed a message saying it was working on restoring access following the hack.
The site went offline on Monday morning, ahead of the annual Victory Day parade on the Red Square in Moscow that came more than two months after Russia launched what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“Following sites of Russian institutions, which over the past two months have constantly come under cyberattacks, hackers have reached Rutube. The video hosting site has come under a massive cyberattack,” the company said in a Telegram message on Monday.
“Someone really wanted to prevent Rutube from showing the Victory Day parade and the holiday fireworks.”
09:21 AM
EU embargo on Russia oil possible ‘this week’
France, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, says Hungary could agree to an EU-wide embargo on Russian oil as early as “this week”.
Landlocked Hungary, a Moscow ally that relies on Russian oil, has been holding up the embargo, saying it needs more time to find new energy sources.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she made “progress” during talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday in Budapest.
“I think we could have a deal this week, we’re working hard to achieve that,” France’s European affairs minister Clement Beaune told France’s LCI broadcaster.
09:02 AM
German foreign minister visits Bucha on surprise visit
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during a surprise trip to Ukraine on Tuesday visited Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv where Russian troops have been accused of killing civilians.
Ms Baerbock, who was meeting with local residents during the unannounced trip, is the latest in a string of foreign diplomats and leaders to visit Bucha, one of several towns and villages around Kyiv where Moscow’s army has been accused of carrying out war crimes.
08:43 AM
Eiffel Tower lit up to support Ukraine
08:25 AM
‘The West now has the chance to cripple Vladimir Putin for good’
We must cement our gains – not just to counter Putin today, but to prevent any tyrant from following his path of destruction in future, says Ben Hodges.
There was some trepidation in Europe when, on a recent visit to Poland, US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin stated that America’s new aim “was to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine”. In places like Germany, such statements are not taken lightly because there is a genuine fear of direct confrontation with Russia. Yet, while the anxiety is understandable, secretary Austin was correct.
As Putin doubles down on his war rhetoric, the reality is that the West has a once-in-a–generation chance to severely weaken Russia’s capabilities, both militarily and geopolitically. We can prevent Russia from having the technical ability to conduct future wars of conquest and incentivise it into a path of respecting the Western-led order – and all without stating the aim explicitly.
You can read Lieutenant General Hodges’ views in full here.
08:08 AM
Russia evasive on nuclear strikes
When asked if Russia would rule out a preventative tactical nuclear strike on Ukraine, Russia’s deputy foreign minister has said that a decision on the possible use of nuclear weapons was clearly set out in Russia’s military doctrine, RIA reported.
“We have a military doctrine – everything is written there,” Alexander Grushko was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying when asked if Moscow would rule out a preventative tactical nuclear strike on Ukraine.
07:52 AM
‘At least 100 civilians’ still in Mariupol steel works
At least 100 civilians remain in a steel works that is under heavy Russian fire in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, an aide to the city’s mayor said.
Mariupol has endured the most destructive fighting of the war in Ukraine. The Azovstal steel plant is the last part of the city still in the hands of Ukrainian fighters.
Ukraine had previously indicated that all civilians had left Azovstal, and Russia has said the evacuation of civilians from the plant is complete.
“In addition to the military, at least 100 civilians remain in the (Azovstal) shelters. However, this does not reduce the density of attacks by the occupiers,” Mariupol mayoral aide Petro Andryushchenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
07:27 AM
44 found dead in Izyum – Ukrainian official
A Ukrainian official says authorities have found the bodies of 44 civilians in the rubble of a building destroyed by Russia in March.
Oleh Synehubov, the head of Kharkiv’s regional administration, made the announcement Tuesday via a message on social media. Izyum is in the Kharkiv region.
He said the five-story building had collapsed with the civilians inside.
He said: “This is another horrible war crime of the Russian occupiers against the civilian population!”
Izyum is an eastern Ukrainian city that Russia has been holding as a key front-line node.
Mr Synehubov did not identify specifically where the building was.
07:18 AM
EU deal on Russian oil ban could be reached this week – France
French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said European Union members could reach a deal this week on the EU Commission’s proposal to ban all oil imports from Russia.
“I think we could strike a deal this week,” Mr Beaune told LCI television, adding that French President Emmanuel Macron was due to talk to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban later in the day.
Hungary is the most vocal critic of this planned embargo on Russian oil.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday she had made progress in talks with Viktor Orban on this project.
07:05 AM
North Korea congratulates Russia on Victory Day
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a congratulatory message to President Vladimir Putin on Russia’s Victory Day holiday, expressing his country’s “firm solidarity” with Moscow, the North Korean news agency KCNA reports.
In his letter sent on 9 May, Kim “extended firm solidarity to the cause of the Russian people to root out the political and military threat and blackmail by the hostile forces”.
The North Korean leader also “expressed belief that the strategic and traditional relations of friendship between the two countries would steadily develop”.
North Korea has recently highlighted its close ties with Russia, and publicly backed Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
In February, it blamed the Ukraine conflict on the “hegemonic policy” of the United States and the West.
06:47 AM
Russia could target Ukraine’s chemical industries
The Ukrainian military is warning that Russia could target the country’s chemical industries.
The claim by Ukraine’s general staff wasn’t immediately explained in a report Tuesday. However, it comes after oil depots and other industrial sites have been targeted by Russian shelling in the war.
The military said, “The possibility of sabotage at the chemical industry of Ukraine with further accusations of units of the armed forces of Ukraine is not ruled out.”
06:28 AM
Latest MoD update
06:14 AM
Photos capture two ships off Snake Island
Satellite pictures analysed by The Associated Press show two ships off Russia-occupied Snake Island just before 3pm on Monday.
The images from Planet Labs PBC showed one appearing to be a landing craft off to its east, another was a ship with two smaller rafts near it.
Ukraine has repeatedly struck Russian positions there recently, suggesting Russian forces may be trying to restaff or remove personnel from the Black Sea island.
On Sunday footage emerged of two Ukrainian air force pilots carrying out an audacious night time attack on the island, levelling buildings held by enemy combatants.
05:07 AM
Poland, Ukraine work on shipping more oil products to Ukraine, say officials
Poland and Ukraine are working out ways to ship more oil products to Ukraine and ease fuel shortages there caused by the Russian invasion, officials from both countries said after a joint meeting on Monday.
“Poland can act as a major fuel transporter for Ukraine, ensuring the arrival of more than 200,000 tons of product monthly,” Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a Facebook post.
Last month, Ukraine received only 60,000 tons, she added.
Poland imports almost all of its crude oil and much of the finished petrochemical products it needs, so it is well placed to act as an intermediary, Poland’s deputy prime minister, Jacek Sasin, said, according to the Polish weekly Wprost.
04:27 AM
Buildings in Odesa ruined after heavy shelling
Buildings in Odesa lay in ruins on Tuesday after Russian forces pounded the southern Ukrainian port with missiles.
It comes as President Vladimir Putin led defiant celebrations on Monday marking the Soviet’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
While Putin was silent about plans for any escalation in Ukraine, there was no let up in fighting with a renewed push by Russian forces to defeat the last Ukrainian troops holding out in a steelworks in ruined Mariupol.
“You are fighting for the Motherland, for its future, so that no one forgets the lessons of World War Two. So that there is no place in the world for executioners, castigators and Nazis,” Putin said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his own speech on Monday, promised Ukrainians would triumph.
03:38 AM
Putin is trapped, worries Biden
US President Joe Biden said he is worried that Vladimir Putin does not have a way out of the Ukraine war, adding that he was trying to figure out what to do about that.
Mr Biden, speaking at a political fundraiser in a Washington suburb, said Putin had mistakenly believed the invasion of Ukraine would break up NATO and break up the European Union.
Instead, the United States and many European countries have rallied to Ukraine’s side.
Mr Biden said Putin is a very calculating man and the problem he worries about now is that the Russian leader “doesn’t have a way out right now, and I’m trying to figure out what we do about that.”
03:03 AM
Japan announces fresh economic sanctions against Russia
Japan announced on Tuesday new sanctions on Russia to freeze the assets of more individuals and ban exports of cutting-edge goods to some Russian groups including scientific research institutions.
It came as Japan said earlier it would phase out Russian oil imports after agreeing on a ban with other Group of Seven nations to counter Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The G7 nations committed to the move “in a timely and orderly fashion” at an online meeting on Sunday to put further pressure on President Vladimir Putin, although members such as resource-poor Japan depend heavily on Russian fuel.
“For a country heavily dependent on energy imports, it’s a very difficult decision. But G7 coordination is most important at a time like now,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
02:40 AM
Russia not planning to close embassies in Europe, reports RIA
Russia is not planning to proactively close its embassies in Europe in response to unfriendly measures by the West and expansion of sanctions against Moscow, the RIA news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a deputy foreign minister.
“This is not in our tradition,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told RIA.
“Therefore, we believe that the work of diplomatic representative offices is important.”
On Monday, Russia’s ambassador to Poland was doused in a red substance by people protesting against the war in Ukraine as he went to lay flowers at the Soviet Military Cemetery in Warsaw to mark the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
01:56 AM
The moment Justin Trudeau met Patron, the mine-sniffing dog
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Sunday. As he announced new weapons and equipment for Ukraine, he also got to meet one of the country’s most recently decorated heroes – Patron, the brave Jack Russell who has sniffed out hundreds of mines so far.
01:31 AM
Biden signs Ukraine bill and seeks $40bn aid
Washington sought to portray a united front against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Monday as President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan measure to reboot the World War II-era “lend-lease” program, which helped defeat Nazi Germany, to bolster Kyiv and Eastern European allies.
The signing comes as the US Congress is poised to unleash billions more to fight the war against Russia, with Democrats preparing $40 billion in military and humanitarian aid, larger than the $33 billion package Mr Biden has requested.
It all serves as a rejoinder to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has seized on Victory in Europe Day – the anniversary of Germany’s unconditional surrender in 1945 and Russia’s biggest patriotic holiday – to rally his people behind the invasion.
“This aid has been critical to Ukraine’s success on the battlefield,” Mr Biden said in a statement.
01:11 AM
Ukraine calls for moves to unblock ports and prevent global food crisis
Ukraine’s president said on Monday that trade at the country’s ports was at a standstill and urged the international community to take immediate steps to end a Russian blockade to allow wheat shipments and prevent a global food crisis.
Volodymyr Zelensky made the comments after speaking to European Council President Charles Michel, who was visiting Odesa – the major Black Sea port for exporting agricultural products where missiles struck tourist sites and destroyed buildings on Monday.
“For the first time in decades and decades, in Odesa there is no regular movement of the merchant fleet, there is no routine port work. This has probably never happened in Odesa since World War Two,” Mr Zelensky said in a video address.
12:48 AM
Europe needs to think about the price to pay for peace, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said Europe has to once again think about the price to be paid for peace on the continent, like it did in World War II.
In his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky said history would hold Russia responsible.
“And we, Ukrainians, will continue to work toward our defense, our victory and on restoring justice. Today, tomorrow and any other day that is necessary to free Ukraine from the occupiers,” he said.
Mr Zelensky ended the address by promising that the Ukrainian flag will one day once again fly over all of its cities.
“The Ukrainian flag will return. Because this is our country. A free European country,” he said.
12:39 AM
In pictures: Odesa destruction as city bombarded with missile attack
12:23 AM
Today’s top stories
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Russia’s Victory Day parade in Moscow went ahead without a promised display of airpower in a muted display
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The “brutal” Russian military spy unit that tried to assassinate Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 has been handed command of Russia’s intelligence operations in Ukraine
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Ukrainians are being moved to Russia and taken to “camps” against their will, a US defence official has said
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Brussels has dropped its proposed ban on EU tankers carrying Russian oil
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Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said it was very possible Ukraine could defeat the Russian army
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Russia’s ambassador to Poland was doused in red paint when he was mobbed by pro-Ukraine protesters at a ceremony to mark Victory Day
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US congressional Democrats agreed to rush $39.8 billion in additional aid for Ukraine
