Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
– Air strikes hit Odessa –
Air strikes rock Ukraine’s strategic Black Sea port Odessa Sunday morning, but the army says there were no casualties.
“High-precision sea and air-based missiles destroyed an oil refinery and three storage facilities for fuel and lubricants near the city of Odessa,” the Russian defence ministry says.
– Russian pullback reveals horror –
Russian troops leave scenes of devastation in the city of Bucha, just outside Kyiv, where nearly 300 people have been buried in a mass grave, mayor Anatoly Fedoruk tells AFP.
The heavily destroyed city is littered with corpses, with 20 bodies in civilian clothing strewn across a single tree-lined street.
“All these people were shot, killed, in the back of the head,” Fedoruk says.
– Ukraine says Russia planting mines –
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Russian soldiers of planting mines and other booby traps as they withdraw from northern Ukraine.
“They are mining the whole territory. Mining houses, equipment, even the bodies of people who were killed,” he says in a video address Saturday.
– Ukraine claims control of ‘whole Kyiv region’ –
Ukraine has regained control of “the whole Kyiv region” after invading Russian forces retreated from some key towns near the Ukrainian capital, deputy defence minister Ganna Maliar says.
“Russia is prioritising a different tactic: falling back on the east and south,” according to a Ukrainian presidential adviser.
– Mariupol evacuation –
The Red Cross says its team left for the besieged southern port of Mariupol Saturday for a fresh evacuation effort.
– Ukrainian journalist found dead –
Ukrainian photographer Maks Levin has been found dead near Kyiv after going missing more than two weeks ago, the government says.
Prosecutors say he was “unarmed” and “killed by servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces with two shots from small firearms”.
– Baltic states stop Russian gas imports –
The head of Latvia’s natural gas storage operator says the Baltic states are no longer importing Russian natural gas.
– Ukraine says Russia agrees to Kyiv proposals –
Ukraine’s top negotiator in peace talks with Russia says that Moscow had “verbally” agreed to key Ukrainian proposals, raising hopes that talks to end fighting are moving forward.
– Ukraine accuses Russia of firing on protesters –
Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova accuses Russian forces of opening fire on peaceful demonstrators, injuring four with “severe burns”, in the southern city of Enerhodar occupied by Moscow’s forces.
– Russian protesters detained –
Russian police detain 211 people at protests against Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, according to OVD-Info, an NGO.
– Call for ICC to issue Putin arrest warrant –
Veteran war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte calls for the International Criminal Court to quickly issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over actions in Ukraine.
– Pope urges ‘shared response’ on refugees –
The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine has passed 4.1 million, the United Nations says.
Pope Francis calls for a “shared response” to “the growing migration emergency”, adding that he is still considering a visit to Kyiv.
– UN official to visit Moscow, Kyiv –
A top UN official is set to fly to Moscow Sunday, and then on to Kyiv to try and secure a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Ukraine, says the body’s chief Antonio Guterres.
Both Russia and Ukraine have agreed to meet Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Guterres says.
