Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has warned that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is “just the beginning” and that Moscow has plans to take over other countries after a Russian general said he wanted full control of southern Ukraine. “All nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight us. They have to help us because we are first in line. And who will come next? “Zelenski said in a video message late Friday.
Rustam Minekayev, deputy commander of Russia’s Central Military District, was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying full control of southern Ukraine would give it access to Transnistria, a Russian-occupied part of Moldova to the west.
Moldova’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Moscow’s ambassador on Friday to express “deep concern” over the general’s comments. Moldova is neutral, it says. Last month, Moldova formally applied to join the European Union, outlining a pro-Western course accelerated by Russia’s invasion.
Fears continue to grow for hundreds of civilians hiding in the Azovstal steel plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol, with the latter remaining an outnumbered Ukrainian militant contingent. Russia’s Defense Ministry has said it is ready to allow civilians to leave the steel plant if Ukrainian forces surrender. But according to Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Russian forces continue to drop bombs on the plant.
Another mass grave was found outside Mariupol, the Associated Press reported, citing the city council and adviser to the mayor. The city council has published a satellite image provided by Planet Labs, which shows a mass grave measuring 45 by 25 meters, which can hold the bodies of at least 1,000 Mariupol residents outside the village of Vinogradne.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said there was a “possibility” that a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol would be opened on Saturday. She spoke in an online address to people waiting to be evacuated.
“Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s stated intention to ‘introduce’ new methods of warfare ‘is a tacit acknowledgment that Russia’s progress is not going as intended,” the UK Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence update. The defense ministry said it would take some time for Russia to change tactics and improve operations, so in the meantime it “is likely to continue to rely on the bombings as a means of trying to suppress the Ukrainian opposition.”
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has called for the release of prominent Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was detained outside his home in Moscow on April 11, hours after CNN aired an interview criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
UN President Antonio Guterres will meet with Putin in Moscow next week to end the bloodshed. Guterres may also visit Zelensky in Kyiv, the UN said. Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have stalled again, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
The U.S. military expects more than 20 countries to attend Ukraine-focused defense talks, which will be hosted in Germany next week, focusing in part on Kyiv’s long-term defense needs, the Pentagon said Friday.
Western allies are preparing to offer Ukraine a series of “security guarantees” that should make the country “impregnable” for a future Russian invasion, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, according to the Press Association.
Zelensky said he was “grateful” to Britain after Johnson announced the reopening of the UK embassy in Kyiv.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says one sailor has died and 27 others are missing after one of its main warships, the Moscow missile cruiser, sank last week in the Black Sea south of the threatened Ukrainian port of Odessa.
Russia is hiding evidence of its “barbaric” war crimes in Mariupol by burying the bodies of civilians killed in a shelling of a new mass grave that could hold up to 9,000 dead, local authorities said. This comes after an American satellite imagery company released photos that seem to match the site.
The UN Office of Human Rights said it saw growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, describing the war as a “terrible story of violations against civilians”. UN Commissioner for Human Rights Michel Bachelet said “almost every resident” of Bucha had a story about the death of a relative, neighbor or even a stranger.
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