Day 41 of Russia-Ukraine crisis: As it happened

NATO allies to discuss sending more arms to Ukraine, Stoltenberg says

The United States and Europe were planning new sanctions on Tuesday to punish Moscow over civilian killings in Ukraine, and President Volodymyr Zelensky warned more deaths were likely to be uncovered in areas seized from Russians.

Russian forces withdrew from towns north of the capital Kyiv last week as it turns its assault to Ukraine’s south and east. Ukrainian troops recaptured towns devastated by nearly six weeks of war, including Bucha, where bodies of dead civilians lined the streets.

Searing images of a mass grave in Bucha and the bound bodies of people shot at close range drew an international outcry on Monday.

Russia denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians and said it would present “empirical evidence” to a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday proving its forces were not involved.

Here are the latest developments on April 5:

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11.55pm: Russia says prevented Ukraine officers fleeing Mariupol by air

The Russian army said Tuesday it had shot down two Ukrainian helicopters trying to evacuate the leaders of a nationalist battalion defending the embattled port of Mariupol.

“This morning, April 5, around Mariupol, a new attempt by the Kyiv regime to evacuate leaders of the nationalist Azov battalion was aborted. Two Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopters, trying to reach the city from the sea, were shot down by portable anti-aircraft systems,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

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11.30pm: Russian FM Lavrov says Bucha claims aim to 'torpedo' talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said the discovery of bodies in the Ukrainian town of Bucha was a “provocation” aimed at scuppering talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

“A question arises: What purpose does this blatantly untruthful provocation serve? We are led to believe it is to find a pretext to torpedo the ongoing negotiations,” Lavrov said in a video message broadcast on Russian television.

More details here

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10.50pm: US to ban ‘all new investment’ in Russia

The United States, in coordination with the G7 and European Union, will ban “all” new investments in Russia on Wednesday in its latest round of sanctions, a source said.

The joint measures, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and alleged carrying out of atrocities, “will include a ban on all new investment in Russia, increased sanctions on financial institutions and state owned enterprises in Russia, and sanctions on Russian government officials and their family members,” the source familiar with the sanctions told AFP Tuesday.

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8.30pm: Zelensky says situation in country is like razing of Guernica

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday compared Russia's devastating assault on his country to the Nazi 1937 bombing of the northern Spanish town of Guernica in an address to Spain's parliament.

"It's April 2022 but it seems like April 1937 when the whole world heard about one of your cities, Guernica," he told lawmakers, referencing the carpet-bombing of the town by aircraft from Hitler's "Condor Legion" during Spain's 1936-1939 civil war in support of Francisco Franco's nationalist forces.

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7.30pm: Kremlin says Bucha is ‘monstrous forgery’ aimed at smearing Russia

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7.03pm: Mayor of Ukraine’s Bucha says displaced residents should not yet return home

Displaced residents of the Ukrainian town of Bucha should not yet return to their homes because there are still mines in the area after Russian troops withdrew, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said on Tuesday.

Speaking on national television, Fedoruk said around 3,700 civilians had stayed in Bucha throughout the war.

The town in the Kyiv region, which has been fully retaken by Ukrainian forces, had a pre-war population of around 37,000, according to state statistics.

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6.10pm: Estonia closes two Russian consulates, expels staff

Estonia ordered the closure of two Russian consulates in the country and told staff to leave the country, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, emulating a similar move by neighbouring Latvia.

Russian consular staff will have to leave from April 30, the statement said.

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5.20pm: Putin says possible nationalization of Russian assets abroad is “a double-edged weapon”

Possible nationalization of Russian assets abroad is “a double-edged weapon”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, in comments suggesting that Russia was capable of responding in kind.

He was speaking a day after Germany said its energy regulator would take control of Gazprom Germania, a gas trading, storage and transmission business which Russia’s Gazprom said it was exiting last Friday.

Putin also said that Russia needs to keep a close eye on agriculture exports to “unfriendly countries”.

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4.52pm: NATO allies to discuss sending more arms to Ukraine, Stoltenberg says

NATO allies will discuss the delivery of more weapons to Ukraine when foreign ministers meet on Wednesday and Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

“We speak about advanced weapons systems. We speak about, for instance, javelins and other anti-tank weapons,” he told a news conference, adding that ammunition, medical supplies and “high-end” weapons systems would also be discussed.

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4.49pm: Death toll rises to 11 after rocket strike on Ukraine’s Mykolaiv

At least 11 people were killed and 61 wounded in a rocket attack on the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Monday that hit a bus stop and shopping area, Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Tuesday.

Regional authorities had earlier said a child was among those killed in the daytime strike, which he blamed on Russian forces.

Russia denies targeting civilians.

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4.38pm: Moscow says will retaliate after Spain’s decision to expel diplomats

Russia will respond to the expulsion of some 25 of its diplomats from Spain, Interfax news agency cited Russia’s foreign ministry as saying.

Spain will expel some 25 Russian diplomats and embassy staff from Madrid, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Tuesday, joining other European Union countries which have collectively kicked out well over 250 Russians in recent weeks.

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4.20pm: Russia aiming to take ‘entire Donbas’ in Ukraine, says NATO chief

Russia plans to militarily take the “entire” Donbas region in eastern Ukraine with the aim of creating a corridor from Russia to annexed Crimea, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

Russian forces are moving away from Kyiv to “regroup, re-arm and resupply and they shift their focus to the east,” he told a media conference ahead of a Wednesday meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

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4.17pm: Mover than 7.1 million people displaced by war in Ukraine

More than 7.1 million people have been displaced by the war in Ukraine, a report by the International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday.

That represented a 10% increase in the number of internally displaced persons in Ukraine since a first round of the survey on March 16, it added.

More details here

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4.05pm: Spain to expel around 25 Russian diplomats

Spain will expel around 25 Russian diplomats and embassy staff over the Russian attack on Ukraine, following similar moves by Germany and France, Spain’s foreign minister said Tuesday.

“The unbearable images we have seen of the massacre of civilians in the town of Bucha after the withdrawal of the Russian army deeply outrage us,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in a reference to a town outside Kyiv.

The Russian diplomats and staff “represent a threat to the interest of the country” and they will be expelled “immediately”, he told a news conference following a weekly cabinet meeting.

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4pm: Kremlin says Bucha is ‘monstrous forgery’ aimed at smearing Moscow

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Western allegations Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha were a “monstrous forgery” aimed at denigrating the Russian army.

Since Russian troops withdrew from towns and villages around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Ukrainian troops have been showing journalists corpses of what they say are civilians killed by Russian forces, destroyed houses and burnt-out cars.

The West says the dead civilians are evidence of war crimes. Reuters saw dead bodies in the town of Bucha but could not independently verify who was responsible for the killings.

“It is a simply a well-directed - but tragic - show,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It is a forgery aimed at denigrating the Russian army - and it will not work.”

2.45pm: EU chief von der Leyen in Kyiv ‘this week’

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel “this week” to Kyiv, accompanied by EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell, her spokesman said on Tuesday.

The pair, two of the European Union’s most senior figures, “will travel to Kyiv this week to meet with President (Volodymyr) Zelensky ahead of the #StandUpForUkraine event in Warsaw on Saturday,” commission spokesman Eric Mamer said in a tweet.

Zelensky told reporters in Ukraine that “I expect her visit in the coming days, we don’t yet know the timing”.

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2.30pm: Bucha witness saw soldiers fire on man ‘going to supermarket’

In Bucha, resident Olena told AFP she saw Russian soldiers shoot a man in cold blood as units of “brutal” older troops sowed fear in the town near Kyiv.

“Right in front of my eyes, they fired on a man who was going to get food at the supermarket,” said Olena, 43, who did not wish to give her second name.

Located 30 kilometres (19 miles) to the northwest of Kyiv’s city centre, the town of Bucha was occupied by Russian forces on February 27 in the opening days of the war and remained under their control for a month.

After the bombardments stopped, Ukrainian forces were able to retake the town on Thursday.

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1.13pm: Civilian ship sinking in Mariupol, says Ukraine

Ukraine says a civilian ship is sinking in the port of the besieged city of Mariupol after Russian forces fired on it.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the ship was struck during “shelling from the sea” by Russia, causing a fire in the engine room. The crew was rescued, including one injured crew member, it added.

The ministry said the ship was flying the flag of the Dominican Republic and posted a picture of a cargo vessel. It didn’t specify how many people were on board or the nationalities of the crew members.

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1pm: Italy to expel 30 Russian diplomats: official

Russia will give an appropriate response to the expulsion of 30 of its diplomats from Italy, TASS news agency quoted Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.

Italy has expelled 30 Russian diplomats because of security concerns, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Tuesday, according to comments sent by a spokesman.

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12.37pm: Zelensky says Ukraine-Russia talks the only option to end war

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday Ukraine had no option but to negotiate with Russia to end fighting but that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin might not personally hold talks.

Zelensky was speaking after accusing Russian troops of carrying out extra-judicial killings in the town of Bucha west of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

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11.00am: German president admits mistakes with Russia

Germany’s president is admitting mistakes in policy toward Russia in his previous job as foreign minister.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier served twice as ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign minister, most recently from 2013 to 2017, and before that as ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff. In that time, Germany pursued dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin and cultivated close energy ties.

Steinmeier told ZDF television Tuesday that “we failed on many points,” including efforts to encourage Russia toward democracy and respecting human rights.

9.30am: Japan minister brings 20 Ukrainians from Poland on govt plane

Twenty Ukrainians arrived in Tokyo Tuesday on a government plane with Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi after his trip to Poland, as Japan cautiously welcomes those fleeing Moscow’s incursion.

Japan typically accepts just a few dozen refugees a year from thousands of applicants, and while it has cracked open its doors to Ukrainians, it calls them “evacuees” rather than refugees.

Japan has so far received 404 other Ukrainians, said Matsuno, after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last month announced a plan to accept those fleeing the war.

But they are not designated as refugees, which would entitle them to stay in the country at least five years before applying for more permanent leave to remain.

Instead, the “evacuees” receive a 90-day visa that can be converted to a one-year status with permission to work. (Read more here)

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6.30am: Ukraine’s president to address UN Security Council

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the UN Security Council for the first time Tuesday at a meeting that is certain to focus on what appear to be widespread deliberate killings of civilians by Russian troops.

The dead were discovered after the withdrawal of Russian forces from a town on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, and have sparked global outrage and vehement denials from the Russian government that it was responsible.

The United Kingdom, which holds the council presidency this month, announced late Monday that Zelensky would speak at the open meeting called for Tuesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine. (Read more here)

Zelensky is to address the UN’s most powerful body virtually after it receives briefings from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, his political chief Rosemary DiCarlo, and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who is trying to arrange an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and met with senior Russian officials in Moscow on Monday and will shortly be heading to Ukraine.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, accused Ukraine and the West on Monday of “a false flag attempt” to blame Russian troops for atrocities in Bucha that he charged were committed by Ukrainian nationalists.

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