Zelensky sends strict WARNING to civilians this weekend ahead of Putin’s planned Victory Day

WFP: Reopen Ukraine ports or risk world hunger

The UN World Food Programme yesterday said that people around the world will starve if Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea aren’t reopened soon.

“We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine. The world demands it because hundreds of millions of people globally depend on these supplies,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said.

“Right now Ukraine’s grain silos are full.”

The WFP is concerned that if the silos aren’t emptied soon there will be nowhere to store this summer’s harvest, causing massive waste and further driving up global food prices.

Zelensky: Mariupol ‘destroyed completely’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has yesterday said that the southeastern port city of Mariupol has been destroyed completely and there is nothing left to fall to Russians – except for its besieged steelworks.

Zelensky, speaking on a video call to the Chatham House think-tank in London, was asked how the fall of the strategic city could affect the course of the conflict.

“You should understand that Mariupol will never fall. There is nothing there to fall apart. It is already devastated… there is no structure. This is all destroyed completely,” Zelensky said in comments translated into English from Ukrainian.

What is left is “this little turf, this little structure, the Azovstal steel mill, or what remains of it”, he added.

Russian forces accused of opening fire on car on way to collect civilians

Mariupol City Council yesterday accused Russian forces of opening fire on a car as it was on its way to the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol to collect trapped civilians.

“During the ceasefire on the territory of the Azovstal plant a car was hit by Russians using an anti-tank guided weapon,” the council said in an online post.

“This car was moving towards civilians in order to evacuate them from the plant.”

It added: “As a result of the shelling, one fighter was killed and six were wounded. 

“The enemy continues to violate all agreements and fails to adhere to security guarantees for the evacuation of civilians.”

Shell in talks to sell Russian retail business

Shell has said today that it is in talks to sell its network of petrol stations and lubricant plant in Russia.

Ahead of the possible sale, Shell has suspended operations at its filling stations and the Torzhok lubricant plant, Sergey Starodubtsev, the company’s head in Russia said in a statement.

He also confirmed that negotiations were underway.

It was unclear who the potential buyer was but sources told Reuters it would most likely be a local company.

Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said on Thursday that Shell was in talks to sell its Russian retail business.

Shell wrote down $3.9 billion post-tax as a result of its decision to exit operations in Russia, which include a stake in a large liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.

Zelensky: More than half a million Ukrainians ‘forced’ to go to Russia

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said yesterday during an address to Iceland’s parliament that more than “500,000 Ukrainians have been deported to Russia” since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Zelensky said: “They were forced to go there. Their documents and means of communication are confiscated.

“They are sent to faraway regions of that foreign land in order to assimilate there.”

Ukrainian beer to be brewed in Belgium

A popular Ukrainian beer is being brewed in Belgium at the moment due to not being able to be produced in the country.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) halted production of Chernigivske lager and other beers at its three breweries in Ukraine because of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Belgium, Oleg Shamshur, saw the first cans rolling off the production line as he visited AB InBev’s site in Leuven on Friday.

AB InBev said all profits would go to humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

G7 leaders to hold video conference with Zelensky on Sunday

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will take part in a G7 virtual discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, a German government spokesperson said.

They will discuss matter about the situation in Ukraine.

“It will cover current issues, particularly the situation in Ukraine. President Zelensky will take part and report on the current situation in his country,” said Christiane Hoffmann, German government spokesperson.

Refugees arriving under Ukraine visa schemes up 10,000

Figures show that the number of refugees arriving in the UK under Ukraine visa schemes has risen by more than 10,000 in just over a week.

Around 37,400 people had arrived in the UK under Ukraine visa schemes as of Tuesday, according to government figures published on Friday.

This is up from 27,100 by April 25.

The latest arrivals include 19,500 under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme – a rise of three-quarters from 11,100 last week.

And 17,900 people have arrived under the family scheme, up from 16,000.

Zelenskyy urges German leader to visit Kyiv on Russia’s ‘Victory Day’

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz  to take a “powerful step” and visit Kyiv on Monday.

This is the date when Russia commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory in the Second World War.

Speaking via a translator to London’s Chatham House think tank, the Ukrainian President said: “He’s invited, the invitation is open, it has been for some time now.

“He’s invited to come to Ukraine, he can make this very powerful political step to come here on the 9th of May, to Kyiv. I am not explaining the significance, I think you’re cultured enough to understand why.”

Thank you for reading my coverage this evening. My colleague Louis Allwood will be back with you tomorrow morning.

G7 & Zelensky to discuss the West’s Ukraine support on Russian parade eve

Leaders of the G7 countries and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet virtually Sunday to discuss Western support for Ukraine’s war against Russia, with the White House describing the meeting as a demonstration that Moscow is failing.

Officials in Germany, which currently chairs the group also including Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, gave little detail Friday about the upcoming talks.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will host the call and Zelensky will “take part and report on the current situation,” government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said.

Further sanctions or at least tightening of the huge array of economic punishments already inflicted on Russia are expected to be discussed.

Russian forces accused of opening fire on car on way to collect civilians

Mariupol City Council has accused Russian forces of opening fire on a car as it was on its way to the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol to collect trapped civilians.

“During the ceasefire on the territory of the Azovstal plant a car was hit by Russians using an anti-tank guided weapon,” the council said in an online post.

“This car was moving towards civilians in order to evacuate them from the plant.”

It added: “As a result of the shelling, one fighter was killed and six were wounded. 

“The enemy continues to violate all agreements and fails to adhere to security guarantees for the evacuation of civilians.” 

Security Council, including Russia, expresses concern about Ukraine

The U.N. Security Council, including Russia, today expressed “deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine” and backed efforts by the U.N. chief to find a peaceful solution in the body’s first statement since Moscow’s invasion.

Security Council statements are agreed by consensus. The brief text adopted on Friday was drafted by Norway and Mexico.

“The Security Council expresses deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine,” it reads.

“The Security Council recalls that all Member States have undertaken, under the Charter of the United Nations, the obligation to settle their international disputes by peaceful means.”

“The Security Council expresses strong support for the efforts of the Secretary-General in the search for a peaceful solution,” reads the statement, which also requests U.N. chief Antonio Guterres brief the council again “in due course.”

Guterres welcomed the council support on Friday, saying he would “spare no effort to save lives, reduce suffering and find the path of peace.”

50 civilians evacuated from Azovstal plant

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has said 50 civilians were evacuated from the bombed-out Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol today.

Iryna Vereshchuk said the group included women, children and elderly people.

The deputy prime minister also accused Russia of violating a truce intended to allow all those trapped beneath the plant to depart after weeks under siege.

“Therefore the evacuation was extremely slow…tomorrow morning we will continue the evacuation operation,” she said in an online post.

Mariupol has endured the most destructive bombardment of the 10-week-old war, and the sprawling Soviet-era Azovstal plant is the last part of the city – a strategic southern port on the Azov Sea – still in the hands of Ukrainian fighters.

Johnson & Macron discuss Ukraine and a knock-on effect on prices

The UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron today.

The two men were “united in their condemnation of Putin’s deadly folly”, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

They agreed to “coordinate more closely on longer-term security and economic support for Ukraine, as well as measures to isolate Russia”.

The prime minister also updated Mr Macron on his visit to Ukraine last month and “shared his conviction that Ukraine would win”, the spokesperson added, “supported with the right level of defensive military assistance”.

There was some discussion on the “fallout from the invasion of Ukraine for global energy and food prices”.

The two leaders “agreed to work through the G7 to mitigate the impacts domestically and on developing economies”.

WFP: Reopen Ukraine ports or risk world hunger

The UN World Food Programme has said that people around the world will starve if Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea aren’t reopened soon.

“We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine. The world demands it because hundreds of millions of people globally depend on these supplies,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said.

“Right now Ukraine’s grain silos are full.”

The WFP is concerned that if the silos aren’t emptied soon there will be nowhere to store this summer’s harvest, causing massive waste and further driving up global food prices.

UN races to rescue civilians from Mariupol plant

The United Nations today raced to rescue more civilians from the tunnels under a besieged steel plant in Mariupol.

Some 2,000 Ukrainian fighters, by Russias most recent estimate, are holed up in the vast maze of tunnels and bunkers beneath the Azovstal steelworks, and they have repeatedly refused to surrender.

Ukraine has said a few hundred civilians were also trapped there.

“Our colleagues are currently on the ground,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said of the latest evacuation effort.

“We are in an extremely delicate phase of this operation, working in close coordination with both the Ukrainian authorities and the Russian authorities.”

He declined to share details “for the sake of the safety of those were trying to get out, and, of course, for our own staff, which are there.”

Zelensky: “people are being evacuated from Mariupol’

Ukrainian troops defending the Azovstal steel plant have today accused Russian forces of firing during a civilian evacuation, despite a Moscow-imposed ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “people are being evacuated as much as we can”.

“If they kill people who can be exchanged as POWs or just released as civilians or be helped as wounded or injured, civilian and military alike, if they destroy them, I don’t think we can have any diplomatic talks with them after that,” he added.

“Speaking in the military sense, they will proceed to the point when we stop them,” he predicted of Russian troops’ actions after taking control of the city.

He also referred to Russian plans to hold a victory parade in Mariupol on May 9, a holiday commemorating Soviet victory over Nazis.

“I understand that Russia would like to have a parade for the Victory Day, the ninth of May,” he said.

The Kremlin denied such a plan on Friday.

Zelensky: Mariupol ‘destroyed completely’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has today said that the southeastern port city of Mariupol has been destroyed completely and there is nothing left to fall to Russians – except for its besieged steelworks.

Zelensky, speaking on a video call to the Chatham House think-tank in London, was asked how the fall of the strategic city could affect the course of the conflict.

“You should understand that Mariupol will never fall. There is nothing there to fall apart. It is already devastated… there is no structure. This is all destroyed completely,” Zelensky said in comments translated into English from Ukrainian.

What is left is “this little turf, this little structure, the Azovstal steel mill, or what remains of it”, he added.

Shell in talks to sell Russian retail business

Shell has said today that it is in talks to sell its network of petrol stations and lubricant plant in Russia.

Ahead of the possible sale, Shell has suspended operations at its filling stations and the Torzhok lubricant plant, Sergey Starodubtsev, the company’s head in Russia said in a statement.

He also confirmed that negotiations were underway.

It was unclear who the potential buyer was but sources told Reuters it would most likely be a local company.

Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said on Thursday that Shell was in talks to sell its Russian retail business.

Shell wrote down $3.9 billion post-tax as a result of its decision to exit operations in Russia, which include a stake in a large liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.

Zelensky: More than half a million Ukrainians ‘forced’ to go to Russia

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during an address to Iceland’s parliament that more than “500,000 Ukrainians have been deported to Russia” since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Zelensky said: “They were forced to go there. Their documents and means of communication are confiscated.

“They are sent to faraway regions of that foreign land in order to assimilate there.”

Ukrainian beer to be brewed in Belgium

A popular Ukrainian beer is being brewed in Belgium at the moment due to not being able to be produced in the country.

Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) halted production of Chernigivske lager and other beers at its three breweries in Ukraine because of the Russian invasion.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Belgium, Oleg Shamshur, saw the first cans rolling off the production line as he visited AB InBev’s site in Leuven on Friday.

AB InBev said all profits would go to humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

G7 leaders to hold video conference with Zelensky on Sunday

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will take part in a G7 virtual discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, a German government spokesperson said.

They will discuss matter about the situation in Ukraine.

“It will cover current issues, particularly the situation in Ukraine. President Zelensky will take part and report on the current situation in his country,” said Christiane Hoffmann, German government spokesperson.

Refugees arriving under Ukraine visa schemes up 10,000

Figures show that the number of refugees arriving in the UK under Ukraine visa schemes has risen by more than 10,000 in just over a week.

Around 37,400 people had arrived in the UK under Ukraine visa schemes as of Tuesday, according to government figures published on Friday.

This is up from 27,100 by April 25.

The latest arrivals include 19,500 under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme – a rise of three-quarters from 11,100 last week.

And 17,900 people have arrived under the family scheme, up from 16,000.

Jill Biden to meet with Ukrainian refugees

First lady, Jill Biden, will use her second solo overseas trip to get an up-close look at the Ukrainian refugee crisis by visiting Romania and Slovakia.

There, she will spend Mother’s Day meeting with displaced families in a small Slovakian village on the border with Ukraine.

“Its so important to the president and to me that the Ukrainian people know that we stand with them,” Jill Biden told reporters travelling with her Thursday night.

“I can only imagine the grief families are feeling,” Jill Biden said this week.

“I know that we might not share a language, but I hope that I can convey, in ways so much greater than words, that their resilience inspires me, that they are not forgotten, and that all Americans stand with them still.”

The first lady also will meet during the trip with humanitarian aid workers, educators, government officials and U.S. embassy personnel, the White House said.