April 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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Damaged vehicles are seen outside a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine after it was hit by a rocket attack on Friday April 8.

At least 50 people, including five children, were killed after Russian forces carried out a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, that was being used by civilians trying to flee the fighting, Ukrainian officials said Friday.

The eastern city was?one of the first places to be targeted by the Russian military when the invasion of Ukraine was launched on Feb. 24.

Here’s what we know about the attack:

What Russia said:

Fact check:

Global response:

Ukrainian journalist Alex Merkulov speaks with CNN on Friday April 8.

Ukrainian journalist Alex Merkulov was at the Kramatorsk station when it was attacked by a Russian missile strike on Friday, killing at least 50 people, including five children.

His footage from the scene shows the confusion in the aftermath of the attack, with crowds trying to push in and out of the station and people crying out in pain. Bloody footsteps can be seen smeared on the floor and burning cars outside.

Merkulov, who works for Donetchina TV, said there were two sites where crowds had gathered that day.

Merkulov was about 80 feet (24 meters) away from where the rocket hit, speaking to an older woman outside the station. He said he felt “right away” an “air blast — this really powerful wave.”

Before the blast, Merkulov was speaking to people trying to evacuate. Though the station was crowded, he said it was a calm atmosphere, with people waiting for their trains, drinking coffee or lining up outside.

The blast tore that apart, creating panic and confusion.

Merkulov said there was “no way” to process what happened.

“So many young people who came there with their parents, and they were having coffee, and everything was so peaceful, and then all of a sudden, there is this just shock and horror,” he said.

A Ukrainian man named Maxim prays next to a body of a male left at an abandoned Russian camp near Makariv, Ukraine on April 7.

Russian forces killed 132 civilians in Makariv, in the Kyiv region, the town’s mayor said on Friday as Ukrainian officials continue to assess the extent of destruction around the capital and north of the country.

Local officials collected the bodies and said they had been shot by Russian forces, Mayor Vadym Tokar told Ukraine’s Parliament TV.

Nearly all of Makariv’s infrastructure has been destroyed, he said, adding that apartment complexes and other buildings were bombed and a hospital destroyed.

Makariv, he said, has been hit by a “medical catastrophe,” with all doctors having been evacuated.

He also warned that people in the town need to be careful as mines are scattered in the fields.

The town has been receiving aid and citizens are going out into the streets and doing what they can to clear the rubble, the mayor said.

Before the invasion, about 15,000 people lived in Makariv, but now fewer than 1,000 remain. Tokar said residents are gradually returning and the town is slowly recovering.

According to preliminary estimates, about 45% of Makariv has been destroyed, Tokar said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a video broadcast on Friday evening April 8.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said everyone behind the Russian attack on the Kramatorsk train station will be held accountable.

“This is another war crime of Russia, for which everyone involved will be held accountable,” he said in his nightly address on Friday, adding that Russian state propaganda tried to blame Ukrainian armed forces for the attack.

Zelensky confirmed previous reports from the head of Donetsk region military administration, that at least 50 people were killed in the attack, including five children.

The Ukrainian President said “all the efforts of the world” will be directed to establish minute-by-minute “who did what, who gave orders, where did the rocket come from, who was carrying it, who gave the order and how the strike was coordinated.”

“Responsibility is inevitable,” he said.

Zoltan Kovacs, the international spokesperson for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán speaks with CNN on Friday April 8.

A spokesperson for Hungary’s Prime Minister told CNN the country will not supply weapons to support Ukraine in the conflict with Russia.?

In an address last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Orbán, telling Hungary to?“decide for yourself who you are with.”

Following a sweeping election victory last Sunday,?Orbán hit out at Zelensky, saying his campaign “had to fight against a huge amount of opponents” including the Ukrainian President.

Kovacs told CNN that while Hungary would support Ukraine with humanitarian aid, Prime Minister?Orbán rejected Zelensky’s “message.”

Hungary has proposed a peace summit in its capital Budapest — a proposal called “cynical” by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko.

Some context: Hungary has indicated it would be willing to pay for Russian gas in rubles after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree demanding that “unfriendly countries” pay for gas in the currency.?It’s a move that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told CNN would be a breach of EU sanctions.?

However, Kovacs said it was “impossible” to stop buying Russian energy.

“There’s?no physical alternative to?Russian gas and oil … these are very simple facts actually that?for us, going for energy and?paying for energy, whatever it?takes is going to happen,” he said.

Ukrainian refugees cross the border at Medyka,?Poland on Friday April 8.

On Friday, 6,665 people were evacuated via humanitarian corridors according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Vereshchuk shared the figures in her briefing posted on Telegram.

On Saturday there will be humanitarian corridors from Mariupol and blocked cities in the Zaporizhzhia region, as well as evacuations of the Luhansk region, said Vereshchuk.

She also called out the government officials in charge of cities like Melitopol and Energodar, which are connected to the Ukrainian humanitarian corridor to Mariupol, for violating international law of operation of humanitarian corridors and cooperating with the occupiers.

The Russians are feeling “self-imposed pressure” to achieve some sort of victory by May 9, according to two European officials. May 9 is the day Russia celebrates Victory Day over Germany in World War 2.

Traditionally Russia marks the holiday with a military victory parade through Red Square and a speech from President Vladimir Putin. With one month to go until the holiday, the officials say Russia is regrouping and shifting its forces to southeastern Ukraine — a far more limited goal than seizing large swaths of the country — with the aim of achieving some sort of regional victory.

“Consolidating and trying to at least have something to talk about is clearly in their interest,” one official said.

The official noted that the time pressure could lead Russian forces to make mistakes, compounded by the logistical issues and the morale problems they already face.?

The second European official said that a political timeline for the war could lead to a “military disaster as a consequence.”

But it could also lead Russian forces to commit more atrocities, said the first official.

Major-General Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's Chief of Defense Intelligence speaks with CNN on Friday April 8.

The Russian military is regrouping in the east of Ukraine and plans to advance toward the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s Chief of Defense Intelligence told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday.

“They are regrouping towards the [Ukrainian] city called Izium via Belgorod. They are moving through Belgorod. They get additional troops in Belgorod in order to compensate their losses in Ukraine,” Major-General Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s Chief of Defense Intelligence, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview in Kyiv.

Budanov called on Ukraine’s allies to provide “really serious” military support to help it counter the Russian offensive. He said heavy artillery, anti-aircraft missile systems and combat planes were needed to use “against [Russian] ground forces”.?

“Ukraine needs really serious support in heavy armament, and we need it not tomorrow, we need it today,” he said.?

Budanov said the weaknesses of the Russian military were on display in Ukraine.?Russia’s troops were “defeated” in the Kyiv region and its military effort hampered by logistics, he said.??

A dosimetrist measures the level of radiation around trenches dug by the Russian military in an area with high levels of radiation called the Red Forest near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine on April 7.

The sudden ear-piercing beep of a radiation meter fills the room as a Ukrainian soldier walks in. This is where Russian soldiers were living at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and radiation levels are now higher than normal.

There’s no visible presence of the source of the radioactive material in the room, but Ukrainian officials say it’s coming from small particles and dust that the soldiers brought into the building.

CNN was given exclusive access to the power plant for the first time since it came back into Ukrainian control.

Officials at the plant explain the levels inside the room used by Russian soldiers are only slightly above what the World Nuclear Association describes as naturally occurring radiation. One-time contact would not be dangerous but continuous exposure would pose a health hazard.

“They went everywhere, and they also took some radioactive dust on them [when they left],” Ugolkov adds.

It’s an example of what Ukrainian officials say was the lax and careless behavior of Russian soldiers while they were in control of the?site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. The area around Chernobyl, namely the Red Forest, is still the most nuclear contaminated area on the planet, with most of the radioactive particles present on the soil.

You can read more about the scene in Chernobyl here.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola speaks with CNN on Friday April 8.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola told CNN that the missile strike on a train station in Kramatorsk and other attacks on civilians in Ukraine are “international war crimes being committed against sovereign people who are simply fighting for democracy and for their country.”

Speaking to CNN’s Julia Chatterley on Friday, Metsola said Europe is not delivering equipment, financial assistance, or logistical assistance fast enough, “and it is up to us today, in these hours, to stand up to be counted and to not turn our backs.”

She also said that Europe is funding this war “whether directly, or indirectly” and must take responsibility for not acting earlier to stop the war.

When asked about Ukraine’s candidacy to join the European Union, Metsola said “for the parliament, it’s clear. The place for Ukraine is in Europe.”

The Russian Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation announced Friday that it has revoked the registration of 15?representative offices of international organizations and foreign NGOs, including that of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In response to the expulsion, Amnesty International said that Moscow is “effectively closing it down.”?Russia’s media regulator previously blocked access to Amnesty International’s Russian-language website on March 11.

“Amnesty’s closing down in Russia is only the latest in a long list of organizations that have been punished for defending human rights and speaking the truth to the Russian authorities,” said Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International.

The Russian ministry’s announcement, which did not specify the details of the violations, comes as several NGOs accuse Russia of committing crimes under international law.

The independent rights group Human Rights Watch said over the weekend that it has documented a number of allegations of war crimes by Russian forces in occupied regions of Ukraine, which “include a case of repeated rape; two cases of summary execution, one of six men, the other of one man; and other cases of unlawful violence and threats against civilians between February 27 and March 14, 2022.”

“The authorities are deeply mistaken if they believe that by closing down our office in Moscow, they will stop our work documenting and exposing human rights violations,” said Callamard. “We continue undeterred to work to ensure that people in Russia are able to enjoy their human rights without discrimination. We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia’s egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad.”

Ukrainian police inspect the remains of a large rocket next to the main building of a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine on April 8.

The Pentagon finds “unconvincing” claims from Russia that its forces were not involved in the strike on a train station in Ukraine earlier today that resulted in multiple civilian deaths and injuries, spokesperson John Kirby said during a briefing with reporters.?

At least 50 people were killed and almost 100 injured?in a Russian missile strike?on a train station used as an evacuation hub in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, Ukrainian officials say.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a joint press conference with Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz following a bilateral meeting at 10 Downing Street, in London, on April 8.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that “in principle,” he is open to sending any form of “defensive weaponry” to Ukraine, but stopped short of committing to the delivery of combat tanks.

Speaking at a news conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Johnson was asked why the UK is not fulfilling Kyiv’s wish of being given Marder tanks — a primarily offensive weapon.

The US and Germany will facilitate the delivery of Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine.

The Czech Republic is also reported to have supplied tanks and combat vehicles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday, April 8.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday told European Union chiefs that the bloc’s latest package of sanctions against Russia is still “not enough.”

“I would like to thank all the world, the EU, Ursula von der Leyen personally, for the 5th sanctions package, but I think it is not enough,” he said, speaking in Kyiv alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative of Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borrell.

While Ukraine can “bring the territories back,” they cannot “bring those people back to life,” he said.

“Please keep helping us with the sanctions,” he added.

The EU’s fifth round of sanctions was adopted this week and includes a ban on Russian coal imports and blocks Russian access to EU ports.

Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, vowed an EU delegation will return to Kyiv and acknowledged Ukraine needs more arms.

He said he hoped to be able to pledge a further 500 million euros ($543 million) in military assistance “within the next couple of days,” on top of the 1 billion euros ($1.09 billion) already allocated.?

The European Union on Friday gave Ukraine an “important step” towards membership of the bloc, with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ceremoniously handing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a questionnaire to complete as part of the long-winded membership process.

“Ukraine belongs to the European family. We’ve heard your requests loud and clear. And today, we’re here to give you a first positive answer,” von der Leyen said speaking to reporters in Kyiv alongside Zelensky and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell.

“In this envelope, dear Volodymyr, there is an important step towards EU membership. The questionnaire that is in here is the basis for our discussion in the coming weeks. It is where your path towards Europe and the European Union begins.”

Von der Leyen said she hopes to be able to work closely with Zelesnky to complete the questionnaire within weeks.

Thanking her as he received the document, Zelesnky joked: “We’ll be ready with answers, Ursula, in one week”.?

The questionnaire is one of the many steps Ukraine would need to complete to reach full EU membership.

The Kramatorsk train station is seen from the broken window of a train car on April 8.

The US State Department condemned the Russian strike on a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of?Kramatorsk.

“I want to express our deep condolences to the families of those killed or injured and to the people of Ukraine who continue to suffer terribly from the Russian government’s unprovoked unjustified and brutal war,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter said Friday.

“We are horrified by this latest atrocity but we can no longer be surprised by the Kremlin’s repugnant disregard for human lives,” she said.

Porter said such actions “demonstrate why Russia does not belong on the UN Human Rights Council and they also reinforce the US’s assessment that members of Russian forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine.”

The US has seen indications that Russia is looking to recruit “upwards of 60,000 troops” between new conscripts and mobilizing reservists to reinforce their invasion forces, according to a senior US defense official.

The official cautioned that “it remains to be seen” how successful Russia would be in meeting that target, how much training those forces would get, or where they would be sent.?

The official also said the US has not seen that there are “fresh reinforcements, fully trained, fully armed” ready to reinforce depleted Russian battalion tactical groups.

With regards to their current ability, Russia is now “below 85% of their assessed available combat power” that Moscow had amassed prior to the invasion of Ukraine in February, a senior US defense official said Friday during a briefing with reporters.

The official would not put a specific number on the total number of Russian troops that have been killed to date in the Ukraine operation.

“The aggregate tells us they are under 85% of their assessed available combat power when they started this invasion,” the official said.

The US also believes the Russian military has not solved “their logistics and sustainment problems,” include those problems that existed outside Ukraine, according to a senior US defense?official.

The?official?said those problems mean that they will be unlikely to be able to reinforce their forces in the eastern part of Ukraine “with any great speed.”

“We don’t believe that in general this is going to be a speedy process for them, given the kinds of casualties they’ve taken and the kind of damage that they’ve sustained to their units’ readiness,” said the?official.?

A resident walks next to buildings damaged by shelling in the town of Trostianets, in Sumy region, Ukraine on March 28.

On Friday, the General Staff of Ukraine said stated that Russian forces have completed their withdrawal from Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, while continuing a buildup of forces in the country’s east.

Russia’s military announced previously it was withdrawing from northern Ukraine and around Kyiv to concentrate efforts in the eastern Donbas region.

The General Staff statement also noted that Russian troops continued a buildup in the southern Zaporizhzhia and eastern Donetsk regions, and continued an offensive in the direction of Popasna and Severodonetsk, in the eastern Luhansk region.

Ukrainian soldiers move bodies after a rocket attack at a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine on April 8.

The European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy,?Josep?Borrell, has strongly condemned a rocket strike on a?railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, which killed?around 30 people and wounded about 100 on Friday, according to officials.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday she is “appalled” by the “despicable” missile attack on the railway station.

Borrell and von der Leyen will be meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the strike “abominable” in a tweet posted Friday.

“Ukrainian civilians were fleeing to escape the worst. Their weapons? Strollers, stuffed toys, luggage. This morning, at the Kramatorsk train station, the families who were about to leave experienced horror,” Macron said.?“Dozens dead, hundreds injured. Abominable.”

The French president expressed his condolences to the victims of the strike in Kramatorsk and to victims from past attacks, namely Bucha, Mariupol and Kharkiv. He also called for investigations.?

Macron reiterated that the European Union will continue to provide humanitarian, military and financial supports to Ukraine.?

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has responded to the deadly attack on the Kramatorsk railway station in Ukraine, calling the strike on civilians “completely unacceptable”. At least 50 people were killed in the missile strike on a train station, according to Ukrainian authorities.?

UN Secretary General Antonio?Guterres called the strike “completely unacceptable” in a statement Friday.

The statement added that the secretary general reiterates his appeal to all concerned “to bring an immediate end to this brutal war.”

European Council President?Charles Michel also condemned the strike.

UK?Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Friday she is “appalled” by the?rocket strike.

“The targeting of civilians is a war crime. We will hold Russia and Putin to account,” Truss said on her official Twitter account.

CNN’s Xiaofei Xu and Camille Knight in Paris contributed to this reporting.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a press conference on April 8 in London, England.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he thinks thinks Germany will be able to stop importing Russian oil “this year,” he said Friday.

Speaking at a press conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to London, Scholz said Germany was “actively working” on becoming independent from Russian oil imports. The German chancellor said he believed Germany would be able to end imports this year but added it would take Germany longer to wean itself off Russian gas.

Ending Russian energy imports required investment and infrastructure, Scholz said, adding that Germany had prepared steps to become independent from Russian energy imports “before the war began because we knew that this problem would come up.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen looks at bodies pulled from a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, on Friday, April 8.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktovae revealed on Friday that 164 bodies have been found in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where a massacre of civilians was uncovered following the withdrawal of Russian troops.

Venedyktova said?26 bodies had been retrieved yesterday from under the rubble of a collapsed building in another Kyiv suburb, Borodianka, and that two more bodies had been recovered Friday. She warned that more bodies were likely to be found in destroyed buildings in the town.

People walk in downtown Odesa, Ukraine on April 5.

Ukrainian authorities in the southern region of Odesa have imposed a curfew for the next day and a half following deadly Russian missile strikes on a train station in the east on Friday.

Due to the threat of Russian forces launching missile strikes in the province, residents have been told to stay home from 9 p.m. local time Friday until 6 a.m. local time Sunday morning.

During the curfew it will be prohibited to be out on the streets or in public places without special permissions, the Odesa Regional State Administration said in a statement.

“I appeal to Odessa residents and residents of the region to understand the restrictions imposed and not to violate them. Such measures are necessary, first of all, for your safety, which will save your life, because the consequences can be fatal,” the Head of Odessa Regional Military Administration Maxim Marchenko said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, speaks with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview on Friday.

Hungary will be breaking EU sanctions if they make good on their promise to pay for Russian energy in rubles, the European Commission?President Ursula von der Leyen has told CNN.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor?Orbán had indicated that his country would be willing to pay for Russian gas in rubles after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree demanding that ‘unfriendly countries’ will be required to pay for gas in the currency.?

The EU were in discussions with Budapest, Von der Leyen told CNN.

“So far Hungary has stuck to the sanctions, so until we don’t see the opposite, it’s fine. Never before have we seen the European Union so united, so determined, so fast. And I think for each of our member states, also a question, do I want to be the first one to break that unity? I think no,” she said.?

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it will expel 45 Polish diplomats from Russia on Friday in response to Poland expelling 45 Russian diplomats.?

“As a response to Poland’s unfriendly actions to expel Russian diplomats, based on the principle of reciprocity, 45 employees of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland and the consulates general of the Republic of Poland in Irkutsk, Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg were declared ‘persona non grata’,” the Russians Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on Telegram.

“They must leave the territory of the Russian Federation before the end of the day on April 13. The corresponding note was handed over to the Ambassador of Poland in Russia,” the statement said.

The Polish Ambassador to Moscow, Krzysztof Kraevsky, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday to express “strong protest” over Poland’s decision to expel 45 Russian diplomats as persona non grata, according to the statement.?

Persona non grata?literally means “an unwelcome person.”

“The ambassador was told that we regard this step as confirmation of Warsaw’s conscious desire to finally destroy bilateral relations. The responsibility for this lies entirely with the Polish side,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speak during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, April 8.

A meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,?European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell?has started in Kyiv, Zelensky’s office said in a statement Friday.

Borrell and?von der Leyen arrived in Ukraine earlier on Friday.

During a visit to Bucha,?von der Leyen said those responsible for the atrocities committed there “will be brought to justice.”

“It was important to start my visit in Bucha.?Because in Bucha our humanity was shattered.?My message to Ukrainian people: Those responsible for the atrocities will be brought to justice,”?von der Leyen said on her official Twitter account Friday.?

“Your fight is our fight.?I’m in Kyiv today to tell you that Europe is on your side,” she added.

Ukrainian servicemen stand next to fragments of a missile outside the railway station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on Friday, April 8.

The initial US assessment is the missile that hit the Kramatorsk train station?was a short range ballistic missile fired from a Russian position inside Ukraine,?a senior US defense official said Friday.

It is the “full expectation” of the US that the attack on the?Kramatorsk train station in Ukraine was a Russian strike with an SS-21 short range ballistic missile, according to another senior US defense official.

The official said that while the US does not have “perfect?visibility into the Russian targeting process,” the train station is a major rail hub located “right on the edge of the line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the Donbas area.”

Earlier Friday, Ukraine accused Russian forces of using indiscriminate cluster munitions in Friday’s attack that left at least 50 people dead.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk region military administration,?said that a Russian Tochka-U missile packed with small bomblets hit civilians evacuating the area.?

Russian forces have been accused of regularly using cluster munitions against civilian targets in Ukraine. Last week, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said it received credible allegations that Russian armed forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 24 times.

Such attacks “may amount to war crimes,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.?

The nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also confirmed Russia’s use of cluster munitions, including at least three instances in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on March 7, 11, and 13, 2022.?

Cluster munitions pose a distinct threat to civilians by randomly scattering submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Bomblets that fail to explode upon impact often become de facto landmines, extending the damage post-conflict.?

In 2008, over 100 countries in the United Nations signed on to ban cluster munitions, according to the UN website. Ukraine and Russia did not sign the agreement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a press conference on April 8 in London, England.

The UK will send more air defense and anti-tank missiles to Ukraine as part of a new package of high-grade military equipment worth 100 million pounds ($130 million), British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Friday.

Speaking alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in London, he also said Britain and Germany will be collaborating on energy security and renewables, as Europe aims to phase out its dependency on Russian fossil fuels.

“Today, I can announce that the UK will send a further ￡100 million worth of high-grade equipment to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, including more Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles, which fire at three times the speed of sound, another 800 anti-tank missiles and precision munitions capable of lingering in the sky directly to their target,” he said.

“We will also send more helmets, night vision and body armor on top of the 200,000 pieces of non-lethal military equipment the UK has already dispatched,” Johnson said.?

The British and German governments will hold a joint cabinet meeting within the next year, and defense ministers will meet before the next NATO summit in June, Johnson further announced.?

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire speaks with CNN on Friday, April 8.

France is ready “to go further” and ban Russian oil, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told CNN on Friday.

Le Maire called the attack on a railway station in Kramatorsk, which left at least 50 people dead, “a massacre” and said those responsible must be “identified, prosecuted and possibly convicted for these crimes.”

France did not want to wait and a ban on oil would be a “game changer,” Le Maire said, but added that European unity was needed to implement stricter sanctions on energy.?

Le Maire did stress that the current sanctions agreed by the EU were very effective and “the most heavy since the creation of the European union.”

Calcinated cars are pictured outside a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, after it was hit by a rocket attack on April 8.

The death toll from a missile strike on a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, has risen to 50, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk region military administration.

In an update on Telegram, Kyrylenko said 50 people had died, five of whom were children, adding that 12 of the victims died after being taken to the hospital.?

Of the 98 wounded who were taken to medical facilities, 16 were children, 46 were women and 36 were men, Kyrylenko said.

In an earlier statement on Telegram, Kyrylenko had said the station was struck by an Iskander missile. This latest statement updates that a Tochka-U missile was used.

Energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten presents the federal government's information campaign 'Be smart about energy, this is how we help Ukraine', in Brussels, Belgium, on April 7.

A new government campaign launched in Belgium is encouraging citizens and households to reduce their energy consumption to “be smart with energy and help Ukraine.”

The initiative will run for five weeks online and on all Belgian radio stations.?

Campaign materials published on a dedicated website offered “five simple tips will help you save energy in the short term, without losing comfort.”

The tips include turning down the thermostat by one degree, check the energy rating on home appliances such as refrigerators and freezers, leave the car at home more often and consider using a microwave to re-heat food as – according to the campaign — it uses 4 times less energy than a stove or oven.

Van der Straeten also asked Belgians to prepare for the winter: “Belgian homes consume almost the most energy in all of Europe,” she said urging citizens to invest in better insulation, solar panels, heat pumps and solar water heaters.?

To “set a good example,” the Belgian government is also reducing heating in all federal buildings by one degree a statement from Mathieu Michel, Belgium’s state secretary said.

Belgium imports 30% petroleum, 20% uranium and up to 6% natural gas from Russia according to figures of the country’s energy ministry.?

Minister Van der Straeten reiterated that there is no problem in terms of supplies to Belgium, but “no one can predict how the conflict will evolve, but we can prepare now.”

Other European countries such as France and Germany have also taken measures to reduce their energy dependency.

Calcinated cars are pictured outside a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, after it was hit by a rocket attack on April 8.

The head of Ukraine’s state-owned railway company said one of the two strikes carried out by Russia on Friday fell down on an area adjacent to the Kramatorsk station, and “all of the people that were around and inside were hit by the pieces of the rocket.”?

The station building itself was “also shelled” and “broken,” said Oleksandr Kamyshin, the head of Ukrainian Railways.

He added that Russian forces also bombed a bridge in the area on Thursday.

He told CNN at least 39 civilians had been killed and 87 injured by Russian shelling at the train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. Earlier Friday, the Donetsk regional police said around 30 people were killed and 100 injured.

“This case shows that they tried to kill civilians,” Kamyshin added.

The Krasnogorsky open pit coal mine in Mezhdurechensk, Russia, on July 19.

The European Union import ban on Russian coal will take effect in August, a European source told CNN Friday.

EU member states on Thursday evening approved a fifth?package of sanctions against Russia.

The package includes an import ban on all forms of Russian coal. This affects one fourth of all Russian coal exports, amounting to around 8 billion euros in loss of revenue per year for Russia, according to the European Commission.

The EU source said that the ban will not be immediate but rather a gradual phase out. There will be “a four-month wind-down period,” according to the source.

The package also includes the closing of EU ports to Russian vessels and a ban on exports of high-tech products to Moscow.??

Further details about the package are expected to be released later today in the Commission’s official journal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen on large screens as he addresses members of parliament via video link at the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki, Finland, on April 8.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told?Finland’s parliament on Friday?that a “sanction cocktail, that would be remembered just like Molotov cocktails” is needed to halt Russian aggression.

Zelensky asked Finland to “show even more leadership” in the European Union, saying this will be “the biggest contribution in the security of Europe.”

He said that Ukraine needs weapons “that some of the EU partners have,” as well as “powerful efficient sanctions against Russia on a permanent basis.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Finnish Parliament via video link in Helsinki, Finland, on April 8.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday about 30 people have been killed in a missile strike at a railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, and claimed nearly 300 have been wounded.

In an address to Finland’s parliament on Friday, Zelensky said the “Russian military hit the railway terminal,” adding “there are witnesses, there are videos, there are remnants of the missiles and dead people.”

He described the railway terminal as an “ordinary” and “rank-and-file,” with “people crowded waiting for the trains to be evacuated to the safe territory.”

Whilst saying that those “fighting for freedom” should be supported, Zelensky added that “ordinary people understand these things and this concept more than some influential leaders. Smaller countries understand it better than some of the bigger countries.”

Friday’s virtual address to the Finnish parliament was Zelensky’s twenty third address to a foreign parliament since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement Friday calling the missile strike on a railway station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk a “provocation.”

The statement mirrored recent denials of the indiscriminate killing of civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

Ukrainian forces have the Soviet-designed?Tochka?missile?in their inventory but it has also been used by?Russian and separatist forces in the past.

Russia’s military and senior officials have issued blanket denials of attacks against civilians, most recently claiming – without evidence – that the massacre of civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha was staged.

The killing of civilians during the Russian occupation of the town has been extensively documented.

Ukrainian soldiers clear out bodies after a rocket attack at a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on April 8.

At least 30 people, including two children, were killed after Russian forces carried out a missile strike on a railway station in eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, according to authorities.

Local police said in a statement that the rockets struck a temporary waiting room, where “hundreds of people were waiting for the evacuation train.”

Some 8,000 people per day were going to the station to evacuate during the last two weeks and as many as 4,000 people were there when the missile struck, according to the mayor of Kramatorsk.

The attack comes as Russian forces are preparing for a massive operation in eastern Ukraine to take the contested region of Donbas, Ukrainian authorities say.

Read the full story here:

Burnt out vehicles are seen after a rocket attack on the railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in the Donbass region on April 8, 2022. - More than 30 people were killed and over 100 injured in a rocket attack on a train station in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, the head of the national railway company said. (Photo by Hervé BAR / AFP) (Photo by HERVE BAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Dozens killed in train station missile strike in eastern Ukraine as civilians try to flee Russian onslaught

A?Nobel Peace Prize-winning newspaper editor?says he was attacked with red paint while traveling on a train in Russia.

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the independent Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said he was attacked on Thursday during a train ride from Moscow to the city of Samara, when an unidentified individual poured red paint all over him and his belongings.

Muratov, who won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless defense of freedom of speech in Russia,?told CNN?earlier this week that half the country’s population was against the war in Ukraine.

In a post on Telegram on Thursday, Muratov said: “They poured oil paint with acetone in the compartment. My eyes burned terribly. Moscow-Samara train. Oily smell all over the car. Departure has already been delayed by 30 minutes. I’ll try to wash off. (The attacker) shouted: ‘Muratov, here’s to you for our boys.’”

A spokeswoman for the newspaper told CNN that Muratov’s eyes “seem to be ok.”

Last month, the Russian journalist also said he will auction off his medal to support Ukrainian?refugees.

Read more here:

Nobel Peace Prize-winning newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov posted a selfie on Telegram after a reported attack on Russian railways

Related article Russian Nobel Peace Prize winner says he was attacked with red paint

The yacht Amore Vero, owned by a company linked to Igor Sechin, the chief executive of Russian energy giant Rosneft, seized by the French government near Marseille, France, on March 3.

Nearly €30 billion ($32 billion) of assets of Russian and Belarusian oligarchs and entities have been frozen by EU member states so far, the EU’s ‘Freeze and Seize Task Force’ announced Friday.

In a statement, the Task Force said the assets frozen included boats, helicopters, real estate and artwork. It also said that around €196 billion ($213 billion) of transactions have been stopped.

The Freeze and Seize task force was set up by the European Commission last month to help coordinate the implementation of EU and international sanctions against Russian and Belarusian oligarchs.

European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders said: ”In light of the atrocities committed by the Russian army, it is more urgent than ever to strengthen our cooperation within the EU and with our international partners, including the U.S. and Ukraine, and step up our efforts to stop the financing of the Kremlin’s war machine.”

Russian forces knew that a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk was “full of civilians” and yet, they proceeded with a deadly missile strike, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has alleged.

“Russians knew that the train station in Kramatorsk was full of civilians waiting to be evacuated. Yet they (struck) it with a ballistic missile, killing at least 30 and injuring at least a hundred people,” Kuleba said in a tweet posted Friday.

The foreign minister called their actions “deliberate slaughter,” vowing to bring “each war criminal to justice.”

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss attends a press conference at the headquarters of the Polish Foreign Ministry in Warsaw, Poland, on April 5.By:?

New sanctions introduced by the UK target the “lavish lifestyles of Putin’s daughters,” the government said in a statement published on Friday.

The UK announced that Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, the daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as Yekaterina Sergeyevna Vinokurova, daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, will be subject to travel bans and asset freezes.

The UK government said their analysis shows that more than ￡275 billion of Putin’s war chest – which the UK says is 60% of Russian foreign currency reserves – has been frozen “by coordinated UK and international sanctions in recent weeks.”

“Our unprecedented package of sanctions is hitting the elite and their families, while degrading the Russian economy on a scale Russia hasn’t seen since the fall of the Soviet Union,” UK?Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in the statement.

“But we need to do more. Through the G7, we are working with partners to end the use of Russian energy and further hit Putin’s ability to fund his illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” she added.?

“Together, we are tightening the ratchet on Russia’s war machine, cutting off Putin’s sources of cash.”

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, on April 8.

Japan will expand its sanctions against Russia, banning Russian imports such as coal and vodka and freezing assets held by major banks such as?Alfa-bank?and Sberbank, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a news conference on Friday.

The new sanctions will also reduce coal imports and new investments in Russia, in line with measures taken by other G7 nations, Kishida added. However, he gave no specific timeline for the phase-out of coal imports, saying Japan used coal in various fields, including electric power and cement, and added Tokyo “will need to take into account those fields and each of their situations.”

Kishida condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine as unforgivable “war crimes” and said they violated international humanitarian laws.

He said Tokyo’s punitive measures against Moscow are part of Japan’s efforts to stop an escalation of violence and end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as soon as possible.

Correction:?An earlier version of this post incorrectly named one of the Russian banks that will be sanctioned by Japan. The bank is Alfa-bank.

French President Emmanuel Macron gives an interview to RTL radio in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, on April 8.

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that there is little hope of the war in Ukraine ending soon.

“This war unfortunately will not stop in the days to come,” Macron told French station RTL Friday.

He pointed towards May 9 as an “important day” for the Russian military, calling it almost “certain that for President Putin May 9th must be a day of victory.”

“I think they will concentrate their efforts in the Donbas. I think we will live through very difficult scenes in the days and weeks to come in the Donbas,” Macron said.

Some context: Ukrainian officials say?heavy fighting is underway in the east?of the country, with shelling reported throughout the?Donbas region, ahead of what they are warning may be a major Russian offensive.?

Macron warned that the next few weeks will not likely “lead to many diplomatic concessions from Russia.”

Humanitarian assistance complicated: Macron also highlighted how humanitarian efforts by France, Greece, Turkey and the UN are facing “a lot of difficulties because “there is a total refusal on the Russian side.”

Around 30 people were killed and 100 injured in a Russian missile strike on a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, where civilians were waiting for evacuation trains to safer regions of the country, authorities say. Children are among the dead, according to regional police.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say?heavy fighting is underway in the east?of the country, with heavy shelling reported throughout the?Donbas region, ahead of what they are warning may be a major Russian offensive.?

Here’s a look at the situation on the ground as Russia attacks eastern Ukraine:

Ukrainian soldiers clear out bodies after a rocket attack at a train station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on April 8.

Donetsk regional police said around 30 people were killed and 100 injured in the Russian missile strike on a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, where civilians were waiting for evacuation trains to safer regions of the country.

Kramatorsk railway station has been a crucial hub for evacuation of civilians from the Donbas region.

Police said first responders are continuing to work at the scene.

A man works to catalog bodies of civilians killed in and around Bucha before they are transported to the morgue at a cemetery on April 6, in Bucha, Ukraine.

The chairman of the Russian metals firm Rusal has called for an impartial investigation into the killing of civilians in Bucha.

What happened? Shocking images of the carnage in Bucha were captured by Agence France-Presse on Saturday, the same day Ukraine declared the town liberated from Russian troops. Accounts of alleged Russian atrocities are emerging as?its forces retreat?from areas near Kyiv following a failed bid to encircle the capital.

The town of Bucha has endured five weeks of near-constant firefights. Now officials and human rights groups are blaming the civilian deaths on the departed Russian forces.

Zonneveld’s statement did not address who may be responsible for the atrocities but went on to say that “such incidents make this terrible tragedy all the more traumatic.”

“We all wish an early end to this fratricidal conflict, which destroys lives, families and entire cities. And we want those responsible for such crimes to be punished appropriately,” the statement reads.

Zonneveld, a Dutch citizen, added that Rusal is calling for an early peaceful resolution of this conflict “to preserve priceless human lives and return to normalcy.”

The founder of Rusal, Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who has called for peace in the past, said on Telegram last week that the war is “madness” and could have already been resolved through negotiations.

?Read more on the killings in Bucha:

TOPSHOT - This general view shows destroyed Russian armored vehicles in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. - The UN Human Rights Council on March 4, 2022, overwhelmingly voted to create a top-level investigation into violations committed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. More than 1.2 million people have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, United Nations figures showed on March 4, 2022. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Russian troops discussed killing Ukrainian civilians in radio transmissions intercepted by Germany, source says

Burnt out vehicles are seen after a rocket attack on the railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in the Donbas region of Ukraine, on April 8.

Tetiana Ihnatchenko, spokesperson for the Donetsk regional administration, said at least 27 people, including two children, were killed and 30 people were injured in a Russian missile strike on a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

Kramatorsk railway station has been a crucial hub for evacuation of civilians from the Donbas region.

Japan will expel eight Russian diplomats and officials due to the war in Ukraine, foreign ministry spokesperson Hikariko Ono said at a press conference on Friday.

The diplomats are from the Russian Embassy in Japan and the officials from the Office of Trade Representative.

Earlier, Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry announced that the country will gradually reduce imports of Russian coal in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some context: Japan’s announcement comes as European leaders plan to phase out?Russian coal imports?in response to harrowing?scenes in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv.

Smoke rises from the Kulinichi bread factory after it was hit by shelling in?Kharkiv, Ukraine, onApril 7 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Russian forces have shelled the city of Kharkiv, the regional military governor said Friday, amid continued heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine

“Over the last 24 hours, Russian occupation forces have fired 48 times with artillery, mortars, tanks and multiple rocket launchers in Saltivka, Piatyhatky, Oleksiivka, Derhachi and in the city center,” Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said on Telegram.

“As of now, there are 15 injured in Kharkiv and in the district.”

Syniehubov said shelling seriously damaged a gas pipeline, and that emergency crews were working at the scene.

The shelling of Kharkiv comes amid heavy fighting in the southern part of the region. Ukrainian authorities have urged civilians to evacuate a number of cities and settlements in eastern Ukraine.

“Fighting continues in the Izium direction,” he said. “We continue evacuation, in particular from Barvinkove and Lozova.”

Some background: Recent advances by Russian forces around Kharkiv could be?setting the stage?for the eastern city of?Sloviansk?to become the next target of Russia’s offensive, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a?Washington-based think tank.

Civilians board a train as they are being evacuated from combat zones in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine, on April 6.

Two missiles have struck the train station in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the head of Ukraine’s national rail system,?Oleksandr Kamyshin, said on his official Telegram channel Friday.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, confirmed that first responders were reporting “dozens” of casualties following the attack.

Kyrylenko said thousands of people were at the station during the missile strike, amid the evacuation of residents from the Donetsk region to safer areas of Ukraine.

The eastern city of Kramatorsk was?one of the first places to be targeted by the Russian military when the invasion of Ukraine was launched on February 24.

This post has been updated.

Russia is searching for ways to replenish troop numbers, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russia’s military registration and enlistment offices have redoubled efforts to “solve the problem of replenishing its units with human resources,” the Ukrainian military wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.

Ukraine says Russian recruiters are now conscripting those who have been discharged from military service since 2012, particularly drivers, mechanics, reconnaissance specialists and junior commanders.

Ukraine also believes Russia is looking to sign up Russian passport holders in the Transnistria region of Moldova, home to a separatist movement. A small Russian military contingent has been based in Transnistria since the early 1990s, but the region shares no borders with Russia and it is unclear how it could provide recruits to the Russian military in significant numbers.?

People board a bus in Severodonetsk as they flee the city in the Donbas region of Ukraine on April 7.

Ukraine sees preparations nearing completion for a “massive breakthrough” attempt by Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region, the military governor of the Luhansk region said on Friday.?

Ukrainian officials have urged residents of some cities in Donbas to evacuate in anticipation of what they say may be a major offensive.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and top diplomat for the bloc, Josep Borrell, are en route to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

Von der Leyen tweeted a photo Friday of her walking up to a train alongside Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who is joining the trip.

“Looking forward to Kyiv,” she said.

Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also tweeted a picture of himself and von der Leyen setting out on their journey.

The European Commission chief is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “sometime” on Friday, according to Ukrainian presidential spokesperson Sergei Nikiforov.

The visit comes as the bloc approved its fifth package of sanctions against Russia on Thursday evening, notably imposing an import ban on Russian coal.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a NATO press conference in Brussels that the sanctions would signal “serious pressure” being placed on Russia, although he lamented the bloc’s failure to target Russian oil and gas in the package.

A funeral procession for Olha Sukhenko, a Ukrainian village mayor who was found murdered after Russian forces left the Kyiv region, on April 8.

A funeral procession was held on Thursday for Olha Sukhenko, a Ukrainian village mayor who was found murdered after Russian forces left the Kyiv region.?

Sukhenko was mayor of Motyzhyn, to the east of the capital, when she was killed in the custody of Russian forces, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Vadym Tokar, the head of the Makariv village council, posted video on Telegram of local residents marching behind a van carrying the coffins of Sukhenko and her husband and son, who were also killed, according to Tokar.

“In Motyzhyn, they said goodbye to Olha Sukhenko, her husband and son, who were tortured and killed by the Russian occupiers,” Tokar said, adding that about 300 people came to pay their respects by following the coffins and kneeling on the road.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced that 10 evacuation corridors are set to open on Friday.

The corridors include routes for civilians escaping the besieged city of Mariupol and from the Luhansk region, which has been under intense bombardment.

The corridors are:

Smoke rises over the town of Rubizhne, in the Donbas region of Ukraine, on April 7.

Ukrainian officials say?major fighting is underway in the east of the country, with heavy shelling reported throughout the Donbas region, ahead of what they are warning may be a major Russian offensive.?

Here’s what we know about the situation in the east:

An employee rises the Ukrainian flag at the city hall of Bucha, Ukraine, on April 7.

Russian troops have “fully withdrawn” from northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia, the UK’s Ministry of Defense said in its latest military intelligence assessment.

A number of the Russian troops will be transferred to eastern Ukraine to fight in the Donbas region, the MoD said on Twitter.

“Many of the forces will require significant replenishment before being ready to deploy further east,?with any mass redeployment from the north likely to take at least a week minimum,” the ministry said.

Russian shelling of cities in the east and south of Ukraine persists, the MoD said, and Russian forces have moved further south from the city of Izium, which remains under Russian control, it said.

Ever since the Ukraine crisis began, French President Emmanuel Macron has assumed the role of Europe’s statesman, willing to talk face-to-face and on the phone multiple times with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a way that other world leaders would be either unwilling or, Macron’s supporters believe, unable to do.?

Critics might argue that Macron’s indulgence legitimizes a man that Biden has described as a war criminal.

But his allies say that, at the very least, keeping the line open to Moscow eliminates any claim Putin could make that he’d been isolated and had no diplomatic alternative other than invasion.?

Macron is a man who sees himself and France as a force for good on the world stage. And though his interventions often don’t live up to expectations the statesman persona plays well with French domestic audiences. All of which helps Macron as he fights for reelection this month.?

But the war has cast a shadow over the French presidential election campaign, the first round of which takes place on April 10.?

Read the full analysis:

TOPSHOT - French President Emmanuel Macron (R) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) in Moscow on February 7, 2022, for talks in an effort to find common ground on Ukraine and NATO, at the start of a week of intense diplomacy over fears Russia is preparing an invasion of its pro-Western neighbour. (Photo by SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by -/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Emmanuel Macron has a grand vision for the West. Putin has exposed the limits of his influence

On March 14, the same day?Russia?banned Instagram, Russian tech entrepreneur Alexander Zobov announced he would soon launch a local version of the popular photo and video sharing app called Rossgram.

Two weeks later,?Rossgram shared an update on its Telegram channel telling prospective users that the app was undergoing “internal testing.” The launch is still pending.

Rossgram’s apparent launch delays highlights the broader hurdles Russia’s technology sector has to overcome in order to build a self-contained internet that isn’t dependent on western platforms.

The Russian government has been trying to make this break for years but that effort has been further accelerated by Russia’s war with Ukraine and the resulting exodus of, and crackdown on, US big tech companies.

Russia does have established homegrown tech companies such as VK, the biggest Russian social network, and Yandex, whose services include a popular search engine and a ride-hailing platform. But those companies are smaller?and also under pressure from global sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine invasion, given their dependence on western firms for key infrastructure.

Read the full story:

A pedestrian checks her smartphone in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, April 14, 2020.

Related article Why Russia might struggle to maintain its digital iron curtain

Rescuers remove rubble of a damaged building in Borodianka, Ukraine, on April 7.

Ukraine’s President warned the situation in Borodianka, near the capital, will be worse that what was seen in Bucha, following the retreat of Russian forces. Meanwhile, the US said it has committed tens of thousands of weapons to Ukraine, including “hundreds” of suicide drones.

Here’s the latest:

Here’s a look at the situation on the ground as Russia attacks eastern Ukraine:

The US has committed more than 12,000 anti-armor systems, 1,400 anti-aircraft systems and “hundreds” of suicide drones to Ukraine, the Biden administration said in a statement Thursday evening.

The update comes after the US approved on Tuesday another $100 million in weaponry for Ukraine drawn from US inventories, bringing the total US assistance to Ukraine to approximately $1.7 billion since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.

That includes $300 million approved last Friday under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, in which new weapons will be purchased from defense contractors to send to Ukraine.

The list of weapons committed to Ukraine includes the following:

This does not mean all of the weapons have already arrived in Ukraine; instead, they are an update on what the US has sent in the past and has pledged to send in the future.

For example, on Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the US has sent in about 100 of the Switchblade suicide drones and is working on sending in more.?

The United Nations General Assembly?voted Thursday?to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council after high-profile allegations of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers during the war in Ukraine.

The voting result was 93 in favor, 24 against and 58 abstentions.

The General Assembly needed to vote in favor by two-thirds of the countries present and voting to remove Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. The measure suspends Russia’s membership in the Council and would launch a review of the matter if the UN deems it appropriate.

Read more here.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha on Wednesday, April 6.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov briefly admitted Thursday that Russia had suffered “significant” losses of its troops in Ukraine, calling it “a huge tragedy” for the country in an interview with Sky News.

Asked whether the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv and its region could be seen as “a humiliation” for the Kremlin, Peskov said using those words would be “a wrong understanding of the situation.”

Peskov added that Russia did so to “lift tension from those regions in order to show Russia is really ready to create comfortable conditions for the continuation of the negotiations.”

Some context: CNN has been unable to verify how many Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine. Last month, pro-Putin Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda reported the toll was 9,861 — multiple times higher than official figures from the Kremlin. The figure, which was attributed to the ministry and later retracted by the paper — which claimed it was hacked — was not confirmed by the Kremlin.

US and NATO officials estimated last month that Russian casualties range from between 3,000 and 10,000. Ukrainian officials have claimed the toll is even higher.

CNN has geolocated a recent video that appears to show the execution of a?Russian?prisoner by?Ukrainian?forces following recent fighting in the Kyiv region.

The video — first verified by the New York Times — shows a group of soldiers with Ukrainian patches and blue arm bands on a road following a firefight. The bodies of at least four men in Russian uniform are lying on the pavement. Three of them have head wounds and blood is pooled around the body of a fourth, who has a jacket pulled over his head and seems to be rasping.

A soldier points a rifle and fires two shots at the body, pauses, then fires another. The body stops moving.

A person narrating to the camera then turns to film a Russian infantry fighting vehicle with a “V” marking similar to that seen on Russian military hardware operated by many units in Ukraine. “A little trophy,” the man says.

Someone off camera says, “Slava Ukrayini!” — glory to Ukraine, a patriotic greeting, and a bearded man steps in the frame and replies, “Glory the heroes,” the standard reply.

The exact time and date of the video, which appeared on a pro-Russian Telegram channel, is unclear. The location of the video matches that of a video published on Twitter by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. That video, posted on April 2, shows a blasted Russian armored column. “Handiwork of Ukrainian defenders in the Kyiv region,” the caption reads.

Read more:

Related article Video appears to show execution of Russian prisoner by Ukrainian forces | CNN

Germany’s foreign intelligence service told a parliamentary committee Wednesday that it has intercepted radio communications where?Russian?soldiers talked about shooting soldiers and civilians in?Ukraine, a source with knowledge of the meeting said.

The briefing was the top item at the Wednesday meeting, the source added.

Those intelligence findings —?first reported by Der Spiegel?— appear to implicate Russian troops in a pattern of apparent war crimes despite denials from Moscow, most recently in the indiscriminate killing of civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

Der Spiegel reported that the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, intercepted Russian radio chatter about the killing of civilians in Bucha, and that some of the conversations could be tied directly to specific killings in Bucha that have been documented since news first emerged of an apparent massacre there.

German intelligence has satellite images that point to the involvement of Russian troops in the Bucha killings,?the Washington Post reported, citing an unnamed intelligence official, though the paper said the radio transmissions have not been linked to that location.

News of the German intelligence assessment comes amid massive international outrage over Bucha and a growing body of evidence that points to the Russian military’s involvement in the indiscriminate killing of civilians in Ukraine.

Read more:

TOPSHOT - This general view shows destroyed Russian armored vehicles in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. - The UN Human Rights Council on March 4, 2022, overwhelmingly voted to create a top-level investigation into violations committed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. More than 1.2 million people have fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, United Nations figures showed on March 4, 2022. (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS / AFP) (Photo by ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Russian troops discussed killing Ukrainian civilians in radio transmissions intercepted by Germany, source says