Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Zelenskyy says visit to Moscow 'out of the question' right now

A senior Kyiv official on Wednesday accused the International Committee of the Red Cross of working "in concert" with Russia in Ukraine, a charge the organisation denied. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said any peace talks are likely to fail, as he compared holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiating with a crocodile. Stay tuned for live updates

Zelenskyy says visit to Moscow 'out of the question' right now

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out heading to Moscow for direct talks with Russian leaders on ending the war, he was quoted on Thursday as saying.

"In the name of my country, I would be ready to visit any place on this planet. But certainly not now and certainly not Moscow. That is simply out of the question," he was quoted as telling Russian media outlet Mediazona in an interview republished by Austrian newspaper Der Standard.

Biden announces $800M in new military assistance for Ukraine

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced an additional USD 800 million in military aid to help Ukraine fight back against the Russian invasion, and he warned that Congress will need to approve additional assistance.

The new military package includes much needed heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, and drones for Ukrainian forces in the escalating battle for the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. It builds on roughly USD 2.6 billion in military assistance that Biden had previously approved.

We have already raised Ukraine war issue with Modi at diplomatic level, says British PM Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said his country has already raised the Ukraine war issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a diplomatic level, and added that everybody understands that India andRussiashared "very different relationships historically".

Ukraine receives 19 prisoners of war from Russia, deputy PM says

Russiahanded over to Ukraine 10 soldiers, including two officers, and nine civilians in an exchange of prisoners of war, Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister said on Thursday.

"This time there were wounded among those released and ... now they will be able to receive full treatment and undergo rehabilitation," she said in Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine calls for 'urgent' evacuations from Mariupol plant

Ukraine called Thursday for a humanitarian corridor to be opened immediately to allow civilians and wounded fighters to be evacuated from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol holding out against Russian forces.

"Hundreds of civilians, children, injured Ukrainian defenders are trapped in plant's shelters. They have almost no food, water, essential medicine. An urgent humanitarian corridor is needed from the Azovstal plant with guarantees people will be safe," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement on social media.

Some civilians leave as Russians tighten noose on Mariupol

Only four buses with civilians managed to escape from Mariupol after several unsuccessful attempts, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday, as thousands more remained trapped under relentless Russian attacks against the last pockets of Ukrainian resistance in the devastated southern port city.

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Kremlin: Operation still 'according to plan'

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says thatRussia's military operation in Ukraine “continues according to plan” although President Vladimir Putin has ordered his forces not to storm the Azovstal steel plant, the last holdout of Ukrainian forces in the port city of Mariupol.

Peskov told reporters on Thursday that “there was and still is an opportunity for Ukrainian troops to lay down their arms and come out via established corridors.”

He said that “the operation continues according to plan" and that Mariupol “has been liberated.”

UK's PM arrives in India for hard sell on anti-Russia action

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in India Thursday touting job-creating investment but facing long odds to get his reluctant counterpart Narendra Modi to back Western action against Russia.

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UNESCO June meet in Russia on world heritage postponed indefinitely

A meeting of the UN cultural agency's World Heritage Committee scheduled to have been hosted byRussiain June has been postponed indefinitely, a source said Thursday, after weeks of intense diplomatic wrangling prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian ambassador to UNESCO had proposed in a letter postponing the meeting, to be hosted by the Russian city of Kazan, and its indefinite postponement has now been formally agreed, a senior UNESCO source told AFP, asking not to be named.

Ukraine president's adviser says Russia realised it could not take Mariupol's Azovstal

Russiadecided to blockade the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol because it cannot take it by force, Oleksiy Arestovych, Ukraine's presidential adviser said on Thursday.

"They physically cannot take Azovstal, they have understood this, they have taken huge losses there. Our defenders continue to hold it," Arestovych said at a briefing.

UK sets out 26 new sanctions against Russia

Britain on Thursday added 26 new designations to its list of sanctions against Russia over the Ukrainian war, including on military figures and defence companies.Britain, which has sought to play a key role in the West's response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, has already set out hundreds of sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans on prominent Russian billionaires and politicians including President Vladimir Putin.Among those on the updated sanctions list, published on the government website, were Colonel General Nikolay Bogdanovsky of the Russian army who holds the position of First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, manufacturer Military Industrial Company, and industrial group Promtech-Dubna.

Moscow still waiting for Ukrainian response to latest proposals, says Kremlin

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Moscow was still waiting for Kyiv's response after it had handed a document in connection with peace talks to the Ukrainian side.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he had not seen or heard about a document that the Kremlin said it had sent to Ukraine.

Russia-Ukraine talks are continuing, Peskov added.

Ukraine says 9 bodies found outside Kyiv, some 'with signs of torture'

The bodies of nine civilians, some showing signs of torture, have been found in the town of Borodyanka outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, a senior police official said.

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Putin orders Russian forces not to storm last Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol; official says it is 'securely blocked', reports AP

Mayor of Ukraine's Kharkiv says city is under intense bombardment

Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv was under intense bombardment on Thursday, its mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

"Huge blasts, the Russian Federation is furiously bombing the city," Terekhov said in a televised address.

He said that around 1 million people remain in the northeastern city, while about 30% of the population have evacuated, mainly women, children and the elderly.

Russia and Belarus will respond to the strengthening of NATO forces on the borders of their countries, TASS news agency reported citing a Russian diplomat

"Together with Belarusian allies we have to respond to the military strengthening of NATO forces on the borders of the Union State (Russia and Belarus) and the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization), and to coordinate steps in the international arena," Alexey Polishchuk, a diplomat in Russia's Foreign Ministry told TASS in an interview. [Reuters Reported]

Russia says it hit 1,001 targets in Ukraine overnight

Russian missiles and artillery struck 1,001 military targets in Ukraine overnight, including 162 firing positions, the country's Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.

Russian forces and Russian-backed separatists have also taken full control of the town of Kreminna in eastern Ukraine, the ministry said. (Reporting by Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces not to storm the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged city of Mariupol but to block it "so that not even a fly comes through.”

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin on Thursday that the sprawling Azovstal steel plant where Ukrainian forces were holed up was “securely blocked.”

He said the rest of the city was “liberated” and Putin hailed that as a “success.”

Leaving the plant in Ukrainian hands, however, robs the Russians of the ability to declare complete victory in Mariupol. The city's capture has both strategic and symbolic importance.[AP]

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed Russia's "liberation" of Mariupol after Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told him Moscow controlled the Ukrainian port city

"Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape," Putin said in a televised meeting, adding it would be "impractical" to storm the huge industrial area, where more than 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen remain according to Shoigu. [AFP Reported]

Ukrainian forces turning schools into bunkers, alleges Russia

Russiahas once again accused the Ukrainian forces of using schools and other educational institutions as bunkers and launch pads.

The Russian Defence Ministry released a video on Wednesday showing its servicemen discover the headquarters of the territorial defence of Ukraine in the southern city of Kherson.

The Ministry said the Ukrainians used the children's educational institution as a point of deployment and turned it into a stronghold.

"This time, the Ukrainian nationalists used one of the city's schools for their accommodation. The school itself and the basement were filled with boxes of ammunition, weapons, as well as medicines and military equipment," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The video shows the Russian military examining the premises for the presence of mines and explosive objects and recovering all weapons and ammunition. It was said that the school building, garden was cleared of explosive objects and was handed over to the local administration.

"On February 24, the Ukrainian armed forces, dressed in civilian uniforms, broke into the school. They quickly began to settle into classes, and began to bring in some boxes, some things, some equipment, some big bales. I was kicked out of school under threat of reprisals," the Russian Defence Ministry quoted the school principal as saying.

"Apparently they were soldiers, but they were all in civilian uniform. They opened the premises and located classes. War is war, but people must be people. I ask that such a situation as happened in our school never happen again. Do not use children's educational institutions, medical institutions for the location of military equipment, weapons and military people, because this entails a great danger," he added. [IANS Reported]

The bodies of nine civilians, some showing signs of torture, have been found in the town of Borodyanka outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv

"These people were killed by the occupiers and some show signs of torture. I want to emphasise that these people were civilians. The Russian military knowingly shot civilians who did not put up any resistance," the head of the police in the Kyiv region said overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.[AFP Reported]

Ukraine says 4 buses carrying evacuees have left Mariupol

Four buses carrying evacuees from Mariupol have left the besieged and destroyed port city where Ukrainian forces are battling to retain control, the government said Thursday.

"Four evacuation buses managed to leave the city yesterday through the humanitarian corridor," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on social media, adding that evacuations of women, children and the elderly would continue Thursday. [AFP Reported]

A top ally of President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces will seize the last main stronghold of resistance in the besieged city of Mariupol on Thursday, after Ukraine proposed talks on evacuating troops and civilians there

Mariupol would be the biggest city to be seized by Russia since it invaded Ukraine eight weeks ago in an attack that has taken longer than some military analysts expected, seen over five million people flee abroad and turned cities to rubble.

"Before lunchtime, or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation," Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia's republic of Chechnya, whose forces have been fighting in Ukraine, said of the steel plant.

Ukraine's defence ministry was not immediately available for comment. Its general staff said in an early Thursday update that missile and bomb strikes continued across the country.

The southeastern port city of Mariupol has endured the fiercest fighting of the war as besieging Russian forces try to take full control. Its capture would be a big strategic prize and would link territory held by pro-Russian separatists in the east with the Crimea region that Moscow annexed in 2014.

A few dozen civilians managed to leave the city on Wednesday in a small bus convoy, according to Reuters witnesses.

Russian forces advancing from staging areas in Donbas towards Kramatorsk, UK military says

Russian forces are advancing from staging areas in Donbas towards Kramatorsk, which continues to be hit by rocket attacks, a British military update said on Thursday.

High levels of Russian air activity continue as it seeks to provide close air support to its offensive in eastern Ukraine, and to suppress and destroy Ukrainian air defence capabilities, the UK Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin.

Ukraine war seen pushing chip shortage well into 2023

If you are struggling to lay your hands on that car you ordered months ago, blame it on Russia.

Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has made it harder for companies to source neon gas, critical for the lasers used to make chips, and palladium, which is used in other manufacturing stages, exacerbating the global shortage of chips used in everything from cars to smartphones.

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Biden set to announce new military assistance for Ukraine

President Joe Biden is set to announce plans on Thursday to send additional military aid to help Ukraine fight back against the Russian invasion, according to a US official.

The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Biden will deliver a Thursday morning address at the White House detailing his plans to build on the roughly $2.6 billion in military assistance the administration has already approved for Ukraine.(AP)

Russia now controls 80% of Luhansk region

The Luhansk governor said Russian forces now control 80% of the region, which is one of two regions that make up the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

One of Russia's stated goals is to expand the territory in the Donbas under the control of Moscow-backed separatists.

Before Russia invaded on Feb. 24, the Kyiv government controlled 60% of the Luhansk region.

Gov. Serhiy Haidai said the Russians, who renewed their offensive this week in eastern and southern Ukraine, have strengthened their attacks in the Luhansk region.

Leading Vladimir Putin ally predicts Mariupol victory on Thursday

Russian forces said they will seize the Mariupol steel plant that is the last main stronghold of resistance in the besieged city on Thursday after Ukraine proposed talks on evacuating troops and civilians there.

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Red Cross denies Kyiv's accusation of working 'in concert' with Moscow

A senior Kyiv official on Wednesday accused the International Committee of the Red Cross of working "in concert" with Russia in Ukraine, a charge the organisation denied.

Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova decried ICRC's announcement last month that it was planning to open a branch in Russia's southern Rostov region to help Ukrainian refugees, who, Kyiv says, have been forcibly deported to Russia. - AFP.