Peace would have already been restored in Ukraine if other world leaders were as courageous as Boris Johnson, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“If everyone in the world – or at least the vast majority – were steadfast and courageous leaders as Ukraine, as Britain, I am sure we would have already ended this war and restored peace throughout our liberated territory for all our people,” the Ukrainian president said in an overnight address.
The Prime Minister became the first western leader to address the parliament in Kyiv earlier this week, where he was given numerous standing ovations for his steadfast support for the Ukrainian cause.
Last month, Mr Johnson also made a surprise visit to Kyiv where he walked the streets with Mr Zelensky, in a move Downing Street described as a “show of solidarity”.
Follow the latest updates below.
08:25 AM
Separatists take down Ukrainian road signs in Mariupol
Moscow-backed separatists in southeastern Ukraine said they had taken down traffic signs spelling out the name of the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukrainian and English and replaced them with Russian ones.
“Updated road signs have been set up at the entrance to Mariupol,” the transportation ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said in a statement.
The ministry released pictures of municipal workers in orange vests carrying away a road sign saying Mariupol in Ukrainian and English and installing a similar sign in Russian.
“Work to change road signs across liberated territory will continue,” the statement said, adding that similar work had been carried out in smaller settlements.
08:08 AM
Russia says it destroyed large ammunition depot in east Ukraine
Russia’s defence ministry has said that its missiles destroyed a large ammunition depot in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
It also said its air defences shot down two Ukrainian warplanes, an Su-25 and a MiG-29, in the eastern Luhansk region.
It was not possible to independently verify the claims.
07:47 AM
Germany to send self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine
Germany will send seven self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, the defence ministry has said, ramping up deliveries of heavy weapons to help Kyiv battle Russia’s invasion.
The German army has about 100 howitzer 2000s in its stocks, but only 40 are combat ready.
No delivery dates were provided. Ukrainian soldiers are due to begin training in Germany from next week on using the howitzers.
07:30 AM
Ukraine today, in pictures
07:08 AM
Russian oligarch’s yacht seized in Fiji on US request
Fiji authorities have seized sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov’s $300 million yacht in line with a US warrant, the US Justice Department says.
The 348-foot (106-metre) Amadea was berthed in Lautoka, Fiji in the South Pacific when the island state’s law enforcement took control of it.
The US Justice Department had requested the vessel, which sailed to Fiji in mid-April, be held for violating sanctions and for alleged ties to corruption.
The Amadea is worth $325 million and has a helipad, pool, jacuzzi and “winter garden” on the sun deck, according to tracking website superyachtfan.com.
“The Amadea is subject to forfeiture based on probable cause of violations of US law, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, money laundering and conspiracy,” the department said in a statement.
06:47 AM
‘Almost 500 civilians’ evacuated from Mariupol
Almost 500 civilians have been evacuated from the battered city of Mariupol and its besieged Azovstal steel plant since a UN-led rescue operation began, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office said Friday.
“We have managed to evacuate almost 500 civilians,” Andriy Yermak said on Telegram. He said Kyiv will “do everything to save all its civilians and military” stuck in the devastated city, adding that the evacuations would continue.
06:27 AM
Hungary ‘cannot support’ new EU sanctions against Russia in present form
Hungary cannot support the European Union’s new sanctions package against Russia in its present form, including an embargo on Russian crude oil imports, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio.
Mr Orban said the European Commission’s current proposal would amount to an “atomic bomb” dropped on the Hungarian economy, adding that Hungary was ready to negotiate if it sees a new proposal that would meet Hungarian interests.
06:15 AM
West ‘incapable’ of hindering Russia
The Kremlin has accused the West of preventing a quick end to Russia’s military campaign.
“The United States, Britain, Nato as a whole hand over intelligence… to Ukraine’s armed forces on a permanent basis,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Coupled with the flow of weapons that these countries are sending to Ukraine, these are all actions that do not contribute to the quick completion of the operation.”
But Mr Peskov said the West is “incapable of hindering the achievement” of the Russian operation’s goals.
05:52 AM
Hundreds of hospitals devastated by Russian forces, says Zelensky
Doctors have been left without drugs to tackle serious illnesses like cancer or unable to perform surgery as hundreds of hospitals have been devastated by the war in Ukraine, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a video address to a medical charity group, Mr Zelensky said many places lacked even basic antibiotics in eastern and southern Ukraine, the focal points of the fighting.
“If you consider just medical infrastructure, as of today Russian troops have destroyed or damaged nearly 400 healthcare institutions: hospitals, maternity wards, outpatient clinics,” he told the gathering.
In areas occupied by Russian forces, he said, the situation was catastrophic.
05:24 AM
Russia continues ground assault on Azovstal plant
Russian forces in Ukraine’s Mariupol continued their ground assault on the Azovstal steel plant for a second day, the Ministry of Defence has said.
Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Thursday that Russian forces were still storming and shelling the Soviet-era Azovstal plant, where civilians and military forces are sheltering.
The MoD said the assault has come at a “personnel, equipment and munitions cost to Russia”.
04:32 AM
US denies claim its intelligence helped Ukraine kill Russian generals
The US Defense Department denied on Thursday that it provided intelligence on the locations of Russian generals on the battlefield so that Ukrainian forces could kill them.
Reacting to an explosive New York Times report on US support for Ukraine’s military, Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said it was true that the US supplies Kyiv’s forces with military intelligence “to help Ukrainians defend their country.”
But he added: “We do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in the targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military.”
In a separate revelation, US media reported later on Thursday that the US had shared intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Russian warship Moskva last month, in a huge blow to President Vladimir Putin.
However a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the United States does not “provide specific targeting information on ships”.
04:29 AM
Today’s top stories
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Vladimir Putin will face a “huge cost” if he dares encroach on any nations outside Ukraine, the head of the Royal Navy has said
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The war in Ukraine could be Russia’s Vietnam if it turns from a “quagmire to a rout”, the Defence Secretary has said
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The suggestion that Putin’s anticipated lightning military success has become seriously bogged down was echoed by Aleksandr Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus
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As fighting in the Donbas continued, a leading Kremlin official said there would be no Victory Day parade in the Russian-controlled territories of Donetsk and Luhansk on May 9
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On Thursday, it emerged that Russia has tested the combat readiness of nuclear-capable missiles based in its Kaliningrad exclave inside central Europe
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Matt Hancock has welcomed seven Ukrainian refugees and their four dogs into his family home in Suffolk
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A giant yacht that allegedly belongs to Vladimir Putin is out of dry dock, in the water and could be about to leave the Italian marina where it has sat for months
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The US has passed intelligence to Ukrainian forces which has helped them assassinate a number of high-ranking Russian generals, security sources have said
