Around 300 people killed in Mariupol theatre bombing, officials say; Ukrainian forces have been taking back town around Kyiv, according to the MoD; Russia “telling its armed forces war must end by 9 May “.
Russian troops no longer in full control of Kherson, US official claims
In his night-time video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his troops’ resistance had dealt Russia “powerful blows”.
He called for Moscow to negotiate an end to the war, but warned he would not give up sovereign territory.
“Our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: we must talk, talk meaningfully, urgently and fairly,” he said.
Mr Zelenskyy went on to claim that more than 16,000 Russian troops had now been killed in the conflict.
The UK is providing £2 million of food supplies to parts of Ukraine encircled by Russian forces, the government has announced.
Warehouses in Poland and Slovakia are being readied to supply the “rapid donation” of dried food, tinned goods, and water to the Ukrainian government from early next week, according to the Foreign Office.
Around 25 truckloads of goods will then be transported by road and rail to the communities in greatest need.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “This vital donation of food and supplies will help support the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s barbaric invasion. ”
The war in Ukraine continues to make headlines across national newspapers here in the UK.
Here’s what some of today’s papers are reporting:
On the front of the Daily Express is JK Rowling hitting back at the Russian president after he cited her during a rant about cancel culture.
As many as 300 people died in last week’s bombing of a theatre in Mariupol, reports The Guardian.
The Telegraph is one of several papers to report comments by a senior Russian official that appear to suggest the country is scaling back its ambitions in Ukraine and may be satisfied with controlling only the eastern Donbas region.
The i looks at Ukraine’s captured Chernobyl nuclear power plant and says one worker claims that staff have been working 24-hour shifts amid “safety challenges”.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford reports from Chernihiv in Ukraine.
The city has become completely encircled by Russian troops.
Ukraine’s nuclear energy authority has published a video of what it claims shows four Russian guards visibly uncomfortable as they made statements criticising Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
The authority, Energoatom, said on its Telegram channel that the men had accompanied a shipment of Russian fuel rods to Ukraine’s Rivne nuclear plant last month.
Russia’s nuclear power body, Rosatom, issued a statement demanding “the employees’ speedy and safe return home”, according to the Russian news agency RIA.
The video, which has obvious cuts, shows the four employees sitting behind a table, speaking in low voices to identify themselves as Rosatom employees.
They explain that they arrived in Ukraine on 22 February with the fuel elements for the Rivne plant, and say they finished their contracted work on 17 March.
Three of the men make statements criticising Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, one looking repeatedly to the side of the camera as he speaks.
One says the men have seen for themselves how their compatriots have killed children and mothers.
Another says the men do not understand how Russian officers could give orders to fire on nuclear plants.
“We do not want to participate in this or have anything to do with it,” says the last to speak.
“After everything we have seen, we are afraid to return.”
Sky News has not been able to independently verify the video or any of these claims.
The Biden administration is preparing sanctions targeting Russian companies it says provides goods and services to Moscow’s military and intelligence services, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The US Treasury Department sanctions could be announced as early as next week, the report stated, citing US officials.
Most of the companies that are expected to come under the reported sanctions – including Serniya Engineering and equipment maker Sertal – were earlier added to a US list banning exports of sensitive technologies to them, according to the report.
In our 22:19 post, we told you the UK Ministry of Defence has announced there will be sanctions placed on 65 more individuals and entities over links to Russia’s invasion.
As the 30th day of the war in Ukraine comes to an end, here’s a reminder of some of the key events that have taken place:
The reality is there is still fighting taking place across the country, says Sky News security and defence editor Deborah Haynes.
But President Putin, while he says that his so-called special military operation is going to plan the reality does seem to be anything but.
In fact, Western officials say the original idea was to take Kyiv within four days and now here we are, a month in with Russian forces still outside the capital, still failing to take any major city and incurring significant casualties
By their own count 1,351 Russian military personnel killed – the Ukrainians put that figure at 10 times that number.
Russian commanders must know the reality on the ground
It was interesting to hear that senior official today say that the first phase of this operation was largely over (see 15:05 post).
He claimed that the Ukrainian armed forces’ military capability had been considerably reduced but in fact, it has been significantly enhanced thanks to the inflow of Western weapons into Ukraine.
The official then went on to say the refocusing would be on so-called liberating the eastern part, the Donbas region, in the east of Ukraine.
That’s where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian armed forces for the last eight years.
Military analysts say that if that really was the ultimate goal President Putin did not need to deploy forces all across the country.
But information in this war is as much of a weapon as bombs and bullets, so while that is what is being said today, we have to wait and see and watch what happens next on the ground.
INTERPOL has deployed an operational support team to Moldova following the surge of Ukrainian refugees entering the country.
The international police organisation said it has already received reports of human traffickers and smugglers waiting at various border control points to prey on people arriving from Ukraine.
The team will be based in Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, and different refugee camps.
It will focus on areas such as human trafficking, migration, and border management.
Russia’s ambassador to France has been summoned to the French foreign ministry over an embassy tweet that Paris deemed unacceptable.
The Russian Embassy in Paris had posted a picture depicting a body lying on a table called “Europe” with characters representing the United States and European Union jabbing needles into it.
The drawing implied that Europe was being destroyed by policies undertaken by the United States and the EU.
The needles, seen being jabbed into the body illustrating Europe, contained words such as “NATO”, “COVID-19”, “Cancel Culture” and “Sanctions”.
“We are trying to maintain a demanding channel of dialogue with Russia and these actions are completely inappropriate,” the French foreign ministry said.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, President Emmanuel Macron dismissed the cartoons as false propaganda.
“It’s unacceptable. We believe in a respectful dialogue and will continue it and that means respect on all sides,” he said.
The picture has since been removed from the embassy’s Twitter account.
