Ukraine’s prime minister has vowed that his country will win the war after Boris Johnson suggested on Friday that a Russian victory was still possible.
Speaking in New Delhi, Mr Johnson conceded that it was a “realistic possibility” that Russia could win the war and that Moscow was very close to seizing Mariupol.
However, Denys Shmyhal on Friday night told CNN: “We are absolutely sure that Ukraine will win in this war and victory will be in a very short period.”
On Friday, Russia redeployed a dozen crack military units from the shattered port of Mariupol to eastern Ukraine and pounded away at cities across the region, Ukrainian authorities said.
It came after a top Russian commander said Moscow had expanded its goals to take “full control” of southern Ukraine, as well as the eastern Donbas region.
Follow the latest updates below.
07:30 AM
Mariupol evacuation to start at midday, says Ukraine’s Deputy PM
Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, said that if all went as planned, evacuations from the besieged city of Mariupol would start at noon (0900 GMT).
“Today, we again will be trying to evacuate women, children and the elderly,” Vereshchuk wrote in a social media post.
07:28 AM
UK making visa scheme ‘as difficult as possible’, says Britons
A British host offering his home to a family of five Ukrainians has accused the Government of making its visa scheme “as difficult as possible” for those who are “desperate to help”.
Neil Adams, 54, has offered his house in Wigan, Manchester, to a husband, wife and their children after they were forced to flee their home in Berdychiv, in the Zhytomyrska region of northern Ukraine.
He applied for their visas through the Homes for Ukraine scheme on March 20 but has been waiting over a month for them to be approved.
“I got in touch with the family via Facebook and we submitted all the paperwork … but the process has just been so painfully slow,” Mr Adams told the PA news agency.
He added: “It makes me feel ashamed, at least of our government”.
07:26 AM
How Putin’s war ignited a new nuclear arms race
Not content with waging war on his Ukrainian neighbours, Vladimir Putin gave the world a dress rehearsal of his updated plans for nuclear Armageddon last week.
On Wednesday, as Russian forces continued to flatten the city of Mariupol, the Kremlin leader decided it would be a good time to test fire his latest intercontinental nuclear missile.
We may look back on it as the first salvo in a new global nuclear arms race.
Read the full story from Colin Freeman here
07:24 AM
Russian forces ‘have made no major gains’ in last 24 hours, says MoD
Russian forces have made no major gains in the last 24 hours despite increased activity, as Ukrainian counterattacks continue to hinder their efforts, British military intelligence said on Saturday.
Despite Russia’s claimed conquest of the port city of Mariupol, heavy fighting continues to frustrate Moscow’s attempts to capture the city, impeding their progress in the Donbas region, the Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin.
Russia’s air and maritime forces have not established control in either domain owing to the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air and sea defences, it said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
