Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian forces gradually pushing occupiers ‘away from Kharkiv’, says Zelenskiy – live

Soldiers inside Azovstal in photos

A Ukrainian soldier inside the besieged Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol has spoken of the harrowing conditions from inside the plant, revealing the remaining defenders are “taking heavy casualties” as the Russians continue their assault.

Lieutenant Illya Samoilenko, a member of the Azov Regiment, told Sky News that the count of injured and fallen soldiers is “very high” and the servicemen deserve proper care.

Nobody has been expecting for us to hold against the Russians for so long but still we are fighting.

We’re taking heavy casualties, we’re taking losses.”

Ukrainian officials believe around 100 civilians remain at the site, but Samoilenko said that, as far as he knows, they were all evacuated.

He added that those at the site have “extremely limited resources,” and they believe that “every day may be our last”.

“The result of this might be… [being captured] by the enemy, which means death for us,” he added.

“Our life means nothing, but our fight means everything.”

Ukrainian soldiers have shown the squalid conditions in which they are currently living while trapped and wounded holed up under the Azovstal steel works plant in besieged Mariupol.

A series of photos were published on the Azov Regiment’s Telegram channel early this morning, alongside a plea to the international community for help.

The whole civilised world must see the conditions in which the wounded, crippled defenders of Mariupol are and act!

In completely unsanitary conditions, with open wounds bandaged with non-sterile remnants of bandages, without the necessary medication and even food.

We call on the UN and the Red Cross to show their humanity and reaffirm the basic principles on which you were created by rescuing wounded people who are no longer combatants.

The servicemen you see in the photo and hundreds more at the Azovstal plant defended Ukraine and the entire civilised world with serious injuries at the cost of their own health. Are Ukraine and the world community now unable to protect and take care of them?”

The regiment pleaded for the “immediate evacuation of wounded servicemen to Ukrainian-controlled territories” where they could be assisted and provided with proper care.

Returning to the decisive issue of gas, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov visited gas-producing ally Algeria for talks on Tuesday as Europe scrambles to secure alternative energy supplies.

Algeria is a major gas supplier to Europe, providing 11% of its imports, compared with 47% from Russia, according to figures cited by the Associated Press.

Italy, Spain and other European Union member countries have looked to Algeria as they seek to cut their dependence on Russian oil and gas.

However, Algeria has repeatedly stressed that it lacks the capacity to meet such demand in the short-term.

“We very much appreciate Algeria’s considered, objective and balanced position on the Ukrainian question,” Lavrov told journalists after meeting his counterpart Ramtane Lamamra and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Asked about Algeria’s gas deliveries, Lavrov said that Russia, Algeria and other gas exporters “believe we should respect deals that have already been reached”.

Lavrov added that the two sides had discussed “bolstering military and technical cooperation”.

Footage from the chaos inflicted on Odesa after one person was killed and five injured when seven missiles hit a shopping centre and a depot in Odesa has emerged showing burning buildings and rescue workers sorting through debris.

Air raid sirens sounded as the missiles interrupted a meeting between Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, forcing them into a bomb shelter on Monday.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the international community to take immediate steps to end a Russian blockade of his country’s ports in order to allow wheat shipments and prevent a global food crisis.

Watch the footage below.

Ukraine has said it will suspend the flow of gas through a transit point which it says delivers almost a third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe through Ukraine, blaming Moscow for the move and saying it would move the flows elsewhere.

Ukraine has remained a major transit route for Russian gas to Europe even throughout Russia’s war in Ukraine.

GTSOU, which operates Ukraine’s gas system, said it would stop shipments via the Sokhranivka route from Wednesday, declaring “force majeure”, a clause invoked when a business is hit by something beyond its control, Reuters reports.

But Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline, said it was “technologically impossible” to shift all volumes to the Sudzha interconnection point further west, as GTSOU proposed.

GTSOU CEO Sergiy Makogon told Reuters that Russian occupying forces had started taking gas transiting through Ukraine and sending it to two Russia-backed separatist regions in the country’s east. He did not cite evidence.

The company said it could not operate at the Novopskov gas compressor station due to “the interference of the occupying forces in technical processes”, adding it could temporarily shift the affected flow to the Sudzha physical interconnection point located in territory controlled by Ukraine.

Ukraine’s suspension of Russian natural gas flows through the Sokhranivka route should not have an impact on the domestic Ukrainian market, state energy firm Naftogaz head Yuriy Vitrenko told Reuters.

The state gas company in Moldova, a small nation on Ukraine’s western border, said it had not received any notice from GTSOU or Gazprom that supplies would be interrupted.

Catch up

In his address, Zelenskiy also emphasized news that Ukrainian forces have retaken villages in the Kharkiv region, which could signal a new phase in the war. He also cautioned against expecting “certain victories”.

He said:

The Armed Forces of our state provided us all with good news from the Kharkiv region. The occupiers are gradually being pushed away from Kharkiv.

I am grateful to all our defenders who are holding the line and demonstrating truly superhuman strength to drive out the army of invaders. Once the second most powerful army in the world.

But I also want to urge all our people, and especially those in the rear, not to spread excessive emotions. We shouldn’t create an atmosphere of specific moral pressure, when certain victories are expected weekly and even daily.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are doing everything to liberate our land and our people. To liberate all our cities – Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Mariupol and all others.

Masha Alekhina, a member of Pussy Riot, escaped from Russia by disguising herself as a food courier, the New York Times reports.

Alekhina has been put under house arrest, but as the Kremlin sought to crack down on critics of the Ukraine war, her sentence was ordered to be carred out at a penal colony.

The Times reports:

She decided it was time to leave Russia — at least temporarily — and disguised herself as a food courier to evade the Moscow police who had been staking out the friend’s apartment where she was staying. She left her cellphone behind as a decoy and to avoid being tracked.

A friend drove her to the border with Belarus, and it took her a week to cross into Lithuania. In a studio apartment in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, she agreed to an interview to describe a dissident’s harrowing escape from Mr. Putin’s Russia.

“I was happy that I made it, because it was an unpredictable and big” kiss-off to the Russian authorities, Ms. Alyokhina said, using a less polite term. “I still don’t understand completely what I’ve done,” she admitted, dressed in black except for a fanny pack with a rainbow belt.

Her lawyer told the TASS news agency, “ I don’t know how she managed to do this, given the close surveillance that law enforcement agencies organized for her.” Thousands have fled Russia since the war began, as Russian president Vladimir Putin moved to crack down increasingly on those speaking out against the invasion.

In his nightly address, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy addressed the death of Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine.

He said:

He was not just a politician. And not just a historical figure. He was the man who knew how to find wise words and say them so that all Ukrainians could hear them.

This is especially important in difficult, crisis moments. When the future of an entire country may depend on the wisdom of one person.

Leonid Makarovych showed just such wisdom in the late 1980s, when the Ukrainian movement emerged. He passed 1991 brilliantly, and it is only now that it may seem as if it was easy for him then.

And no matter what happened later, Leonid Kravchuk always stayed with Ukraine.

Perhaps it was because of his wisdom that he was cheerful in a special way. He always valued life, every minute of it. But he always found much more than one minute to help sort things out and give advice. And I am personally grateful to him in particular for that.

As a child he survived World War II, survived the occupation. Leonid Makarovych knew what freedom costs. And with all his heart he wanted peace for Ukraine. I’m sure we will implement it. We will achieve our victory and our peace.

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US lawmakers in the House of Representatives are expected to vote on Tuesday evening on a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine. The legislation will then go to the US Senate, where sufficient support is not quite yet in the bag.

However, there is broad bipartisan support for firm US backing of Ukraine following the invasion by Russia in late February.

The defense, humanitarian and economic funding should pass comfortably, with the two parties having reached an agreement on the details, and it will likely move quickly through Congress, AFP writes.

Time is of the essence – and we cannot afford to wait. With this aid package, America sends a resounding message to the world of our unwavering determination to stand with the courageous people of Ukraine until victory is won,” House speaker and California Democrat Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter to her party colleagues on Capitol Hill.

Congressional leaders struck a deal Monday to release $6.8 billion more than the $33 billion previously requested by the White House to help the Eastern European nation ward off Moscow’s invasion.

The financial boost would include an extra $3.4 billion for both military and humanitarian assistance on top of the funding requested by the administration.

If the package passes as planned, US spending to bolster Ukraine’s defenses against Russia’s invasion and address the ensuing humanitarian crisis will soar to around $54 billion.

The action comes as a top US official warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for a long war that may not end with Russian victory in the east.

Pelosi met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on a visit to Kyiv at the start of this month.

The blog will now hand over from the New York team to California, where my colleague Maanvi Singh is poised to take you through the next few hours.

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi has made further remarks upon his visit to US president Joe Biden at the White House, expressing the desire for negotiations to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

He thanked Biden for his hospitality in Washington, then turned his remarks to Russia’s invasion of its southern neighbour.

Here is a report from the White House reporting pool. Hopefully the snippet that was inaudible will be filled in later. Draghi said:

The ties between our two countries have always been strong, and if anything this war in Ukraine made them stronger.

Putin thought he could divide us. We stand together condemning the invasion of Ukraine, sanctioning Russia.

But I have to tell you that in Italy and in Europe now, people want to see an end to these massacres, this violence, this butchery.

And people think about what can we do to bring peace.

We certainly have to use any direct (inaudible), but it’s not enough? What can we do?

People want to think about the possibility of bringing a ceasefire and start engaging in credible negotiations. That’s the situation right now.

I think we have to think deeply about how to address this.

We will continue to work on energy security, food security especially which is another issue about which we’ll talk later about what to do.

The other thing I will say – I don’t think we’ll discuss this later – but what happens in Ukraine is going to bring a drastic change in European unity. We’ve always been close. Now, we’re going to be much closer.

I know I can count on your support as a true friend of Europe and of Italy, of course.”

Here are some more images from Ukraine’s vital Black Sea port of Odesa, which came under repeated attack, including from some hypersonic missiles.

One person was killed and five were wounded after seven Russian missiles hit a shopping centre and depot on Monday, the military said.

There has been severe damage.

Ukrainian first responders have been working in the rubble.

Smoke still rises a day after the shelling in Odesa.

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi and US president Joe Biden stressed transatlantic unity on responding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at the White House on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

The ties between our two countries will always be strong and, if anything, this war in Ukraine has made them stronger. [Vladimir Putin] thought he could divide us. He failed, we stand together,” Draghi told Biden.

Biden, who hosted Draghi in the Oval Office, echoed the sentiment, referring in comments to the Russian president while reporters were present.

Putin believed he could split us, but we’ve all stepped up,” Biden said.

Despite Italy’s dependence on Russian gas and Rome’s traditionally friendly ties with Moscow, Draghi’s government has been a staunch supporter of efforts to punish Russia for its assault on Ukraine.

Along with western allies, Rome has sent weapons to support Kyiv, although there is increasing unease about the move within Draghi’s national unity government.

Draghi has also pledged support for any European Union sanctions on Russia’s energy sector despite the risks – 40% of Italy’s natural gas imports come from Russia.

The European Union is currently debating a phased ban on Russian oil imports, although this move would not touch Moscow’s huge gas exports.

With fierce fighting between invading Russian forces and Ukrainian military across a long stretch of Ukraine, there are losses and gains for each side as the advantage fluctuates in different places.

As the vital Black Sea port of Odesa is pounded by Russian missiles, further north in the Kharkiv region Ukrainian officials are talking of having recaptured some territory.

Here are some images coming out from Kharkiv, near the central eastern border with Russia.

The contrast between spring sunshine, trees with fresh greenery and a certain tranquility belie what has been fierce fighting and destruction in Kharkiv and surrounding villages.

News wires journalists and photographers have captured graphic shots of dead Russian soldiers, which we will refrain from sharing here, but which bolster Ukrainian claims they are making some headway in resisting the Russian advance in that area.