Latest news about Russia and the war in Ukraine

A senior Ukrainian official said that the Russian attack on Ukraine has entered its second phase.

“Donbass. The second phase of the war has begun, but I will tell you, believe in the armed forces,” Andrei Yermak, Chief of Staff of President Zelensky, said in a Telegram message, according to Google Translate.

Zelensky, in a video address Monday night, vowed to respond, “No matter how many Russian troops are pushed there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day.”

– Natasha Turak

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

“The Secretary-General strongly urges all parties to activate an urgent and immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which will enable the safe and secure operation of humanitarian corridors, assist the evacuation of the civilian population, as well as provide life-saving humanitarian and medical assistance,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said. She said.

“Real negotiations must give a chance for success and a lasting peace,” he added.

Earlier, the United Nations said a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine was “not in sight now” but could take place within two weeks.

UN Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths will be in Turkey this week to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about hosting humanitarian talks between Russia and Ukraine.

The World Health Organization says 12 million people in Ukraine have been displaced, and 7.1 million remain in Ukraine.

– Chelsea Ong

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Verychuk said there will be no humanitarian corridors on Tuesday for the third consecutive day.

She wrote on Telegram: “Today, April 19, unfortunately there are no humanitarian corridors. Intensive bombing continues in the Donbass. According to Mariupol: the Russians refuse to provide a corridor for civilians in the direction of Berdyansk.”

“We are continuing the difficult negotiations on opening humanitarian corridors in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions,” he added.

The news comes as Ukrainian officials say Russia has officially begun its main offensive in Donbass. For weeks, state and local leaders have been urging civilians to flee as long as they can.

– Natasha Turak

In his Nightly Address to the Nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had begun the Battle of Donbass.

“A very large part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this offensive,” he said.

He also said that Russian forces had increased pressure in some other areas as missile strikes continued.

“The strikes that took place today in Lviv and the Dnipropetrovsk region and any other Russian strikes mean only one thing: we, the world and history will take much more from Russia than Russian missiles will take from Ukraine,” he said.

He added that none of the missile strikes had changed the situation for Russia “significantly”.

Zelensky also said Ukraine’s accession to the European Union is an “inseparable” part of the post-war reconstruction and future development of the country.

“The status of a candidate for membership in the European Union will open up opportunities unprecedented in our history for the restoration and modernization of Ukraine,” he said.

– Chelsea Ong

Japan said it will send protective equipment and drones to Ukraine as part of its support efforts.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kiichi said the items will include masks and clothing designed to protect against chemical weapons, according to Kyodo News.

“We will continue to provide as much support as possible to the Ukrainian government,” Kishi told a news conference.

supplies tracking a Previous shipment of flak jackets and helmets To Ukraine, described by the Japanese Ministry of Defense as “our first case”.

– Chelsea Ong

Ukraine’s military said the long-awaited Russian offensive on eastern Ukraine has begun, with attacks intensifying on Monday in the Slobozansky and Donetsk regions in the north and east of the country.

Increased attacks were also recorded near the cities of Izyum in the Kharkiv and Slovyansk region of the Donetsk region, as well as around Severodonetsk and Popasna in the Luhansk region, far east.

Earlier on Monday, a senior US defense official told reporters on a conference call that an additional 11 Russian battalion tactical groups had moved to Ukraine over the weekend, bringing the total number of tactical units to 76. The official added that the majority of Russia’s ground forces have been repositioned In eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russia is expected to deploy additional forces to support the fighting of the main forces and protect administrative buildings and infrastructure in the territories occupied by the Kremlin, Oleksandr Stabun, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said.

The attacks mark the beginning of what many analysts and fighters on both sides believe will be the most brutal chapter in Russia’s nearly two-month campaign to control Ukraine and its 44 million citizens.

This so far failed effort, and the ongoing shift in the concentration of firepower in areas of Ukraine already under Russian control, is widely seen as a way for Russian President Vladimir Putin to extract a smaller victory from the Kremlin’s large-scale defeat.

– Christina Wilkie