A DEADLY missile strike struck Lviv, a western Ukrainian city early this morning.
Now, authorities say that at least seven people have been killed and another 12, including a child, have been injured.
Lviv Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said there were four Russian missile strikes, three of which hit military infrastructure facilities and one struck a tire shop.
With missiles and rockets battering various parts of the country, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian soldiers of torture and kidnappings in areas they control.
The relentless bombardment and street fighting in Mariupol has killed at least 21,000 people, Ukraine estimates.
Meanwhile, Russia has been accused of using lethal darts in its war on Ukraine, according to a report.
The 3cm-long sharp, finned projectiles were allegeldy used on an area near Kyiv, the Washington Post said.
Russia has not commented on the allegation.
Follow our Russia-Ukraine live blog below for up-to-the-minute updates…
- Milica Cosic
‘Hard’ Russian interrogation's
A Ukrainian mayor has described the “hard” hours of interrogations he faced at the hands of Russian soldiers.
Ivan Fedorov, mayor of Melitopol, a city near Mariupol said he was held by the Kremlin’s forces for a week, before being released in a prisoner exchange on 16 March.
“It was a dangerous six days because I understood that for Russians my life and the lives of civilians were worth zero,” he told Reuters from Rome.
He added: “Russian soldiers assumed that they would be welcomed but they were not … and that is why the Russians were very, very angry.
“There is no food in my city. There is no pharmacy. Half of my city is wrecked. More than 200 people have been kidnapped. It is not safe to walk the streets."
- Milica Cosic
Moment Putin’s nuclear bomber flies close to Ukraine border
THIS is the chilling moment one of Vladimir Putin's nuclear bombers was caught flying close to the Ukrainian border in a major military escalation.
The TU-160 strategic bomber was seen in the skies over Western Russia amid huge pressure on the Kremlin over the sinking of the Moskva flagship in the Black Sea.
Videos today caught four aircraft – one used to carry nuclear bombs – over Kaluga region, between Moscow and the Ukrainian border.
The Defence Ministry in Moscow had not immediately announced the purpose of the mission.
Larger Tu-95s have been used a number of times to strike targets in Ukraine with non-nuclear weapons, notably Kh-55 and Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles.
One of Vladimir Putinâs TU-160 nuclear bombers (ringed) is seen today in the skies over western Russia The TU-160 is being accompanied by four Russian fighter jets and a refuelling planeCredit: East2West - Milica Cosic
Ukraine calls for humanitarian corridor from Mariupol steel plant
Ukraine on Monday called for Russia to facilitate a humanitarian corridor for evacuees from the besieged port city of Mariupol and one from the steel plant that is the city's last significant area of Ukrainian resistance.
"We demand an urgent humanitarian corridor from the territory of the Azovstal plant for women, children and other civilians," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a post on the Telegram messaging service.
- Milica Cosic
Russia broadcasts video of captured 'Britons' demanding UK PM negotiate their release
Russian state TV broadcast a video Monday of what it described as "Britons" captured fighting for Ukraine demanding that Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiate their release.
The two haggard-looking men identified as British nationals Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin asked to be exchanged for Viktor Medvedchuk, a wealthy Ukrainian businessman close to President Vladimir Putin, who was recently arrested in the pro-Western country.
The broadcast did not specify where or by whom — Russian forces or Moscow's separatist allies in eastern Ukraine — the two men were being held.
The recordings were presented as interviews with journalist Andrei Rudenko, of the Russian state broadcaster VGTRK.
In the clip, Rudenko shows the two men a video published last week by Oksana Marchenko, Medvedchuk's wife, who demanded her husband's exchange for the two Britons.
The detainees then asked in English to be exchanged for the businessman.
In a statement released through Britain's foreign ministry, Pinner's relatives said the pair were "being held by the Russian army".
It added both families were working with the ministry "to ensure their rights as prisoners of war are upheld according to the Geneva Convention".
- Milica Cosic
Russia accused of using lethal darts
Russia has been accused of using lethal darts in its war on Ukraine, according to a report.
The 3cm-long sharp, finned projectiles were allegeldy used on an area near Kyiv, the Washington Post said.
Russia has not commented on the allegation.
- Milica Cosic
Missile strike in Lviv killing seven
A DEADLY missile strike struck Lviv, a western Ukrainian city early this morning.
Now, authorities say that at least seven people have been killed and another 12, including a child, have been injured.
Lviv Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said there were four Russian missile strikes, three of which hit military infrastructure facilities and one struck a tire shop.
With missiles and rockets battering various parts of the country, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian soldiers of torture and kidnappings in areas they control.
The relentless bombardment and street fighting in Mariupol has killed at least 21,000 people, Ukraine estimates.
- Milica Cosic
Afternoon, Milica Cosic logging on. I'll be bringing you the latest news and updates on the Russia-Ukraine war until 10pm tonight.
- Louis Allwood
Thanks for reading today's coverage, Milica Cosic will now be updating you with the latest news from Ukraine until 10pm.
- Louis Allwood
More than 5m have fled Ukraine
The UN is reporting that more than 4.9 million Ukrainians have now fled the country as a result of the war.
Some 4,934,415 people have left since Russia invaded on 24 February, the AFP news agency quotes refugee agency the UNHCR as saying.
The UN's International Organization for Migration says nearly 215,000 third-country nationals – largely students and migrant workers – have also escaped to neighbouring countries.
It means that more than five million people in total have fled Ukraine.
- Louis Allwood
Captured Brits forced to ask Boris to release Putin’s ‘Prince of Darkness’
Captured Brit fighters are being forced by Russian troops to ask Boris Johnson to release Vladimir Putin's pal in return for their freedom.
Russia is cynically using the brave Brit POWs Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28, to force the release of Putin’s close Ukrainian ally Viktor Medvedchuk, 67.
Both were paraded in front of propaganda TV cameras to float the idea of a swap.
Kyiv last week announced the capture of Medvedchuk, an opposition politician in Ukraine, who has long been seen as Putin’s man in the war-ravaged state.
The men are seen in separate appeals on Russian state TV making appeals to Mr Johnson who they want to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Since their capture in Mariupol, Russia has sought to milk the “British mercenaries” for propaganda purposes.
- Louis Allwood
Russia and Ukraine latest
- Seven people have been killed after four rockets hit military facilities in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, officials say
- Russian forces bombard several Ukrainian cities and blasts have also been reported in the capital Kyiv
- Russian state media is reporting that its military struck a total of 315 targets in Ukraine overnight
- Putin has lost another commander as Ukrainian troops claim they are hunting for Russian generals “like a safari”
- Pictures have finally emerged of Russia’s flagship Moskva sinking in flames as sailors recount having their limbs ripped off during a Ukrainian missile strike
Tu-95s pictured on a mission
More footage emerged showing a mission by the Tu-95s on Saturday over Smolensk region, also in western Russia.
The super-loud Tu-95 is the only propeller-powered strategic bomber still in operational use today, and the plane first flew 70 years ago.
Putin has deployed the Tu-95s to buzz Britain at moments of high tension, for example in February this year when the Royal Air Force scrambled Typhoon fighters to escort two Bears off northern Scotland.
Rockets fired from Caspian Sea direction
Maksym Kozytsky also says that according to preliminary information the rockets were fired from aircraft from the direction of the Caspian Sea, it has been reported.
Lviv death toll rises
The death toll in Monday's strikes on Lviv has risen to seven, Lviv regional head Maksym Kozytsky says at a briefing.
He says that four rockets were fired: three hitting warehouses, and another one striking a garage, which was providing maintenance for cars.
Moment Putin’s nuclear bomber flies close to Ukraine border
THIS is the chilling moment one of Vladimir Putin's nuclear bombers was caught flying close to the Ukrainian border in a major military escalation.
The TU-160 strategic bomber was seen in the skies over Western Russia amid huge pressure on the Kremlin over the sinking of the Moskva flagship in the Black Sea.
Videos today caught four aircraft – one used to carry nuclear bombs – over Kaluga region, between Moscow and the Ukrainian border.
The Defence Ministry in Moscow had not immediately announced the purpose of the mission.
- Louis Allwood
Pictured: Lviv air strikes
Lviv has not seen a large amount of fighting during Russia's invasion, although there have been a handful of airstrikes.
The city has been used as a hub by refugees fleeing to Poland – about 70km away from its border.
Various Ukrainian authorities and sources confirmed the missile strikes on social media.
- Louis Allwood
Putin loses another commander
VLADIMIR Putin has lost another commander as Ukrainian troops claim they are hunting for Russian generals "like a safari".
Ukraine's military claims it killed Colonel Ivan Grishin, the commander of Russia's 49th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, in what's been seen as another heavy blow for Moscow.
- Louis Allwood
'200 wounded'
Parents of another conscript say they have found out some 200 were wounded – many with horrific burns and other major injuries.
The new accounts strongly dispute the official Russian line of how Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea Fleet flagship was lost.
It comes as deep anger of the families of those missing – and feared dead – has emerged despite efforts by the authorities to silence relatives.
These include conscripts who Putin had vowed were not being sent into the war zone.
The young sailor who witnessed the carnage on the Moskva was revealed by Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s leading investigative media outlet, now operating from outside the country after being gagged by Putin.
“I first heard from him only on 15 April, two days after the incident,” said the distraught mother.
- Louis Allwood
First pics of Russia’s flagship Mosvka sinking in flames
Pictures have finally emerged of Russia's flagship Moskva sinking in flames as sailors recount having their limbs ripped off during a Ukrainian missile strike.
An anonymous conscript survivor broke down in tears as he told his mum how at least 40 crew members were killed during the attack, with “many missing” and maimed.
- Louis Allwood
Deaths and casualties after strikes
The regional governor Maksym Kozytsky has confirmed six people have been killed and eight wounded in Lviv after missiles struck military facilities and a car tyre service point.
A child was among the dead, he said.
Ukrainian authorities in the southern region of Dnipropetrovsk also reported multiple explosions on Monday, and said some of the missiles hit areas close to a railway station and other rail facilities.
- Louis Allwood
Four missiles hit Lviv
Four missiles have struck the Lviv region, according to the governor Makysm Kozytskyi.
On a post on his official Telegram channel he said this was according to "preliminary information".
"Stay in the shelters", he wrote.
- Louis Allwood
Good morning, Louis Allwood with you again today. I’ll be bringing you the coverage on the Russia-Ukraine war until 2pm.
- Joseph Gamp
Ukraine’s richest man vows to rebuild city of Mariupol
Ukraine’s richest man has pledged to help rebuild the besieged city of Mariupol.
Rinat Akhmetov, who owns Ukraine’s biggest steelmaker, Metinvest, said he was sure the country’s “brave soldiers” would defend the southern city.
He said: “Mariupol is a global tragedy and a global example of heroism. For me, Mariupol has been and will always be a Ukrainian city.
“I believe that our brave soldiers will defend the city, though I understand how difficult and hard it is for them.”
Mr Akhmetov addedd: “I talked to people in the streets, I met with workers. My ambition is to return to a Ukrainian Mariupol and implement our (new production) plans so that Mariupol-produced steel can compete in global markets as before.”
According to Forbes magazine, Mr Akhmetov’s net worth in 2013 reached $15.4 billion and it currently stands at $3.9 billion.
“For us, the war broke out in 2014. We lost all of our assets both in Crimea and in the temporarily occupied territory of Donbas. We lost our businesses, but it made us tougher and stronger,” he added.
“I am confident that, as the country’s biggest private business, SCM will play a key role in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
“We will definitely need an unprecedented international reconstruction programme, a Marshall Plan for Ukraine.
“I trust that we all will rebuild a free, European, democratic, and successful Ukraine after our victory in this war.”
- Louis Allwood
Ukrainians vow to ‘fight to the end’ in Mariupol
Ukraine's die-hard defenders last night vowed never to surrender — even as Vladimir Putin’s war machine unleashed fresh fury.
An Easter deadline to disarm passed in the besieged port city of Mariupol, where fighters are holed up in a steelwork’s network of tunnels and bunkers.
Callous Kremlin chiefs threatened: “In case of further resistance, all of them will be eliminated.”
But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned peace talks would be over if the soldiers were annihilated.
And his Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal proudly declared: “The city still has not fallen — there is still our military forces, our soldiers. We have no intention to surrender. They will fight to the end.”
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Mariupol was now a “shield defending Ukraine”.
- Louis Allwood
Explosions in Lviv
The BBC have reported that there have been at least five explosions in western Lviv, a city near Ukraine’s border with Poland.
Thick black and grey smoke is rising from the site of the blasts, it has been reported.
Source: Read Full Article
