Russia-Ukraine war: eastern city captured by Russia; up to 20,000 mercenaries deployed in Donbas – live

Russia-Ukraine war: eastern city captured by Russia; up to 20,000 mercenaries deployed in Donbas – live

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Officials in Kharkiv are reporting another round of deaths and injuries from “non-stop” Russian shelling of the city, separate from an earlier incident that killed at least four.

Four people, including three emergency workers, were killed on Tuesday, according to the Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov, and reported by Reuters.

Terekhov said on Ukraine TV on Tuesday evening that the emergency service officials had died while trying to defuse unexploded Russian munitions. Earlier, he said the Russian military was engaged in a “non-stop bombardment of civilian areas”.

Separately, the prosecutor’s office for Kharkiv region said four people were killed and 14 wounded by Russian rockets in the city on Tuesday.

In a Facebook posting, the region prosecutor’s office said more than 10 residential buildings were damaged, as well as garages and a supermarket.

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It’s Richard Luscombe in the US taking over the blog for the next couple of hours. Thanks for joining me.

I’ve just been listening to the White House press secretary Jen Psaki delivering her account of the video call earlier today between the US president Joe Biden and various world leaders, including the UK prime minister Boris Johnson.

The allies, Psaki said, reaffirmed their support for Ukraine:


The president convened the video conference to discuss their ongoing efforts to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. The leaders reiterated their commitment to continue providing security, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in its time of need.

The leaders affirmed their solidarity with the Ukrainian people and condemned the humanitarian suffering caused by Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion.

They also discussed their respective diplomatic engagements and their coordinated efforts to continue to impose severe economic costs to hold Russia accountable. They agreed to continue to closely coordinate their efforts including working with and through the G7, EU and Nato.

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Summary

It is 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

  • Russian businessman, Oleg Tinkov, has spoken out against the “crazy” war in Ukraine and described supporters of Moscow’s military actions as “morons”. In an Instagram post, Tinkov, who has been sanctioned by the UK government, said “90% of Russians are against” the war.

That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, as I hand the blog over to our US colleagues. I’ll be back tomorrow. Thank you.

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The US has seen “limited offensive operations” by Russian forces southwest of Donetsk and south of Izium, a senior US defence official said.

The official added that the US believes these offensives are “preludes to larger offensive operations”.

The new operations have consisted of “ground movements … supported, of course, by some long-range fires, mostly artillery”, the official said.

The US expects to see a “more blended approach” to the new operations in Ukraine after their failures in the north of the country, the official added.








A timelapse video captured hundreds of Ukrainians forming a long queue outside Kyiv’s main post office on Tuesday as they waited to buy postage stamps featuring a Ukrainian soldier making a crude gesture at a Russian ship.

The stamp pays homage to Ukrainian service member Roman Hrybov who defied Russian forces with the message: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”


 Timelapse shows hundreds of Ukrainians queueing to buy stamp honouring Snake Island defiance – video

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Russian-backed fighters are storming the Azovstal plant in the besieged city of Mariupol where Ukrainian soldiers have been holed up, according to a pro-Russian official cited by the BBC.

Eduard Basurin, who represents the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said assault troops are being helped by Russian aircraft and artillery.

Ukrainian soldiers have been holding out in tunnels under the iron and steel works factory for seven weeks.

The underground complex is also being used as a shelter by hundreds of civilians including children, Ukrainian officials have said. Basurin has denied these reports.

Meanwhile, Russian state TV said about 120 civilians living next to the Azovstal steel works have left via humanitarian corridors.

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Russia deploys up to 20,000 mercenaries from Syria, Libya and elsewhere in Donbas

Russia has deployed up to 20,000 mercenaries from Syria, Libya and elsewhere in Ukraine’s Donbas region, sent into battle with no heavy equipment or armoured vehicles, according to a European official.

The official said the estimates of mercenary involvement on the ground in eastern Ukraine range from 10,000 to 20,000 and that it was hard to break down that figure between Syrians, Libyans and other fighters recruited by the Russian mercenary company, the Wagner Group.

“What I can tell you is that we did see some transfer from these areas, Syria and Libya, to the eastern Donbas region, and these guys are mainly used as a mass against the Ukrainian resistance,” the official told reporters. “It’s infantry. They don’t have any heavy equipment or vehicles.”

The mercenaries are being thrown into the Russian effort to capture as much as possible of eastern Ukraine, in what western defence officials have described as a rush to have some sort of victory that Vladimir Putin can announce at the 9 May military parade in Moscow commemorating the second world war.

The Kremlin is seen as having four objectives in this second phase of its war in Ukraine, the European official said:

  • Capturing the Donbas.
  • Securing a land bridge to Crimea, in which the besieged city of Mariupol is key.
  • Seizing Kherson Oblast to secure the supply of fresh water to Crimea.
  • Capturing additional territory that could be used as a buffer or a bargaining chip in negotiations.

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Luke Harding

After spending four hours in a queue, Viktor Fyodorovich showed off his shiny new purchase. “I’m 63 years old. I’ve never felt so much pride before in our nation. It’s a symbol of our courage and steadfastness,” he said.

Fyodorovich was the proud owner of two sheets of stamps, 16 in total. Available from Kyiv’s central post office, the stamps show a Ukrainian soldier giving the finger to the flagship Russian cruiser Moskva. On the sheet’s perforated margin is the phrase that has become a rallying slogan for Ukrainians in their underdog battle against Moscow: “Russian warship, go …!” The “fuck yourself” is tactfully omitted.

The words were spoken by Roman Hrybov when the warship’s crew asked him and his fellow border guards on Snake Island, south of the port of Odesa, to surrender in the early hours of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The phrase has since gone global. Last week the national postal service, Ukrposhta, released the design as a special commemorative stamp.




The stamp was published the day before Ukrainian missiles took down the Moskva.

 The stamp was published the day before Ukrainian missiles took down the Moskva. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

“People are in love with it. It reflects the mood around the world towards Russia,” said Igor Smelyansky, Ukrposhta’s director general. Scuffles broke out when one desperate woman tried to force her way into the high-ceilinged neo-classical postal building in Kyiv’s independence square.

Smelyansky came up with the idea of a stamp in the early days of the war. He asked the public for suggestions. A shortlist of 50 designs were put to a vote, with the warship the triumphant winner. “It was democratic, just like Ukraine,” he said. “Even when air raid sirens sound, people refuse to leave their place in the line.”








The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has called for a four-day Orthodox Easter humanitarian pause in fighting in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Guterres said the UN was submitting detailed plans to the parties and was ready to send humanitarian aid convoys to Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk beginning on Holy Thursday and running through Sunday 24 April, the date of Orthodox Easter, which is celebrated by most Ukrainians and Russians.

He told reporters in New York:


Humanitarian needs are dire. People do not have food, water, supplies to treat the sick or wounded or simply to live day-to-day.

A humanitarian pause will allow for the safe passage of civilians willing to leave areas of conflict, as well as allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid to people in hard-hit areas.

More than 12m people need humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, Guterres said:


Instead of celebration of a new life, this Easter coincides with a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine. The intense concentration of forces and firepower makes this battle inevitably more violent, bloody and destructive.

The onslaught and terrible toll on civilians we have seen so far could pale in comparison to the horror that lies ahead.








The chair of the UK’s Commons international development committee, Sarah Champion, has said she is “shocked and disappointed” after the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, admitted the UK was nowhere near delivering the full £220m in humanitarian aid it has promised Ukraine.

Truss said that, as of the end of March, the government was “on track” to have disbursed only £60m. Champion said:


I am shocked and disappointed that less than £60m of the UK’s promised £220m humanitarian aid package for Ukraine has been delivered so far. On 9 March, I urged the prime minister to make sure the UK’s pledges for Ukraine are disbursed quickly.

Today, more than a month later, it is shameful that I have to repeat that urgent appeal. More than 12 million people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian support, as well as 4 million people who have fled the country. These people need our help now – not at some vague future date.

At a briefing on Tuesday, a UK official said he expected the delivery of aid to accelerate soon, saying about £120m had been allocated, but that officials had only been able to get about half of that “out the door so far … but we’d expect that to speed up now”.

He added that a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office guarantee, enabling $450m (£346m) of additional World Bank financing to the government of Ukraine, would go through either in April or by early May.

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