April 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of the war in Ukraine has moved here.

Russia has demanded Ukrainian forces?still fighting to defend the besieged city of Mariupol lay down their weapons. The apparent ultimatum comes as Russia continues its relentless and devastating attack on the southeastern?city.

Russian state media Ria reported that “without exception” all “Ukrainian armed units and foreign mercenaries” must exit from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Moscow time (same as local time) “without any weapons and ammunition,” citing the Russian Defense Ministry.

An estimated 100,000 people remain in Mariupol and its immediate surroundings, which are reported to be largely under Russian control, with Ukrainian troops confined to pockets of resistance.

Some context: Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zekensky late Saturday called the situation in the besieged city of Mariupol “inhuman,”?saying the situation remained “as severe as possible.”

“Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol,” he said in his latest video address.

A restaurant partnered with celebrity chef and global humanitarian José?Andrés’ organization, World Central Kitchen, was hit by a missile in Kharkiv, Ukraine, wounding four staffers, WCK CEO Nate Mook said Saturday.

He described the scene as one of “horrific brutality.”

In a video posted on Twitter, Mook stood in front of the building that took what he said was a “big hit” from a missile that left “tremendous amounts of damage” and “a dozen cars burnt out.” The kitchen also suffered damage, according to Mook, who said no one was killed at the restaurant but that one person was killed in the strike.

CNN has not independently confirmed the death.

“This is a tremendous amount of carnage left behind for no reason,” Mook said, adding that “coming to work, cooking for people that are hungry is an immense act of?bravery.”

The WCK CEO said a fire was burning at the site, which he also visited before the attack, on Friday, to pick up meals with the WCK team. He described the area as residential with offices.

Mook said he?was heading to a hospital to check on the restaurant staff, whom he was told were “OK.”?

Following the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Andrés provided meals along the country’s western border through World Central Kitchen.?He said WCK started making food in Ukraine hours after the fighting started and that they’re serving 250,000 meals each day.

In 2021, Andrés was a recipient of Jeff Bezos’ Courage and Civility?Award, an honor which came with $100 million.

Andrés has earmarked some of those funds for Ukraine.

Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov claimed in a statement Saturday the Russian military had shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane carrying military equipment from Western countries.

The statement said “a Ukrainian military transport aircraft was shot down in the air” in the Odessa region while “delivering a large batch of weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western countries.”

CNN could not verify the claim and reached out to the Pentagon for comment.

Russia has claimed to have destroyed more Ukrainian military aircraft than were known to be in Ukraine’s inventory, according to open-source information.??

A M777 towed 155 mm howitzer is placed in its firing position near Mosul, Iraq on February 3, 2017.

Shipments from the Biden administration’s latest security assistance package to Ukraine “have begun arriving,” a White House official told CNN Saturday.

President Biden this week approved an additional package of $800 million worth of weapons, ammunition, and security assistance to Ukraine.

The US has, for the first time, agreed to provide Kyiv with the types of high-power capabilities some Biden administration officials a few short weeks ago viewed as too great of an escalation risk, including 11 Mi-17 helicopters; 18 155 mm Howitzer cannons[ and 300 more Switchblade drones.

?On Friday, a senior defense official told CNN the first flight of weapons and equipment was expected to arrive in the region in the following 24 hours and would be picked up at the border by Ukrainians and taken into the country.

The official referred CNN to the US Department of Defense for more details.

The $800 million shipment brings the?total amount of military assistance?the US has provided to Ukraine to more than $3 billion.

A local resident sits next to a fire in a courtyard outside a building damaged in Mariupol, Ukraine, on April 14.

In his latest Saturday video address to the people of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol and promised a better future once hostilities are over.

Zelensky said “the situation in Mariupol remains as severe as possible. Just inhuman.”

“Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol,” he said.

An estimated 100,000 people remain in Mariupol and its immediate surroundings, which are largely under Russian control, with Ukrainian troops confined to pockets of resistance.

“There are only two ways to influence this,” Zelensky said. “Either our partners will give Ukraine all the necessary heavy weapons, planes, and, without exaggeration, immediately… Or a negotiating path, in which the role of partners should also be decisive.”

Zelesnky said his government has tried every day to end the siege of Mariupol: “Military or diplomatic – anything to save people. But finding this solution is extremely difficult.”

“Although we have heard many intentions from those who wanted to help and who are really in positions of international influence, none of them have been realized yet.” he added.

French President Emmanuel Macron proposed on March 25 a mass evacuation by sea, but the plan went nowhere.

Zelensky said every day either he or the armed forces chief or the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team had been “in touch with our defenders of Mariupol. Every day.”

Zelensky also said his government had begun to plan for a post-war future.?

“Today I held a meeting?dedicated to the reconstruction of our cities,” he said. “Of course, this is a huge amount of work. But still less than defending the state in war.”

The president added, “Now it is a historic moment; the moment when we can solve many old problems of the whole environment of our life once and for all.”

Zelensky addressed the housing situation and what he called the “real modernization of our cities.”

A priority, he said, would be homes for veterans to “provide housing for all those who have defended or are defending the state, who have worked or are working in the interests of society, and do not have their own housing. It can no longer be the case that a person devotes his whole life to military service, but retires without having his own apartment.”

Zelensky also said memorials were being planned, one of?which “will tell the story of the destroyed bridge in Kyiv region, which connected Irpin and Bucha with Kyiv. The story of people who escaped from Russian invaders to Kyiv using this bridge and this road.”

The bridge was the escape route for thousands of civilians escaping Russian bombardment in March.

The Russian navy’s commander-in-chief, Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, met with the crew of the guided-missile cruiser Moskva in Sevastopol, according to Russian state news agency TASS, citing the defense ministry.

TASS released ministry of defense video Saturday showing what was described as officers and sailors of the sunken warship standing in formation two rows deep.

The number of sailors in formation was not clear. The Russian military has released no information about casualties aboard the Moskva, which sank Thursday in the Black Sea. It was unclear how many crew members were aboard, or how many survived.

The Moskva was the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Ukraine claimed it had hit the cruiser with anti-ship missiles, while the Russian military acknowledged only the ship had sunk after a fire on board and the detonation of ammunition.

Evmenov said conscript sailors from the Moskva would be released from service in accordance with the law from May to July, TASS reported.

Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg announced the death of a Russian general in Ukraine in a statement of condolence Saturday.?

The city expressed condolences for the deputy commander of Russia’s 8th?Army, Major General Vladimir Frolov, who died in Ukraine this week, the mayor’s press office said in a statement.

St. Petersburg Mayor Alexander Beglov attended the funeral, held at the historic Serafimovskoe Cemetery on Saturday, the statement said.

“Today we say goodbye to a true hero,”?Beglov said, according to the statement. “Vladimir Petrovich Frolov died a heroic death in battle with Ukrainian nationalists. He sacrificed his life so that children, women and old people in the Donbas would no longer hear the explosions of bombs. So that they stop waiting for death and, leaving home, say goodbye as if it were for the last time.”

CNN could not confirm the circumstances of Frolov’s death. Several top Russian officers have been killed in Ukraine.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, speaks during the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games at The Hague, Netherlands, on Saturday, April 16.

During a speech at Saturday’s opening ceremony of the Invictus Games at The Hague, Prince Harry said “the world is united” with Ukraine.

Speaking of the Ukrainian servicemen and women who traveled to the Netherlands to compete, he said: “You told me yesterday why you decided to join us, despite all odds. You said you came to be on this global stage, not simply to show your strength, but to tell your truth, the truth of what is happening in your country.”

Prince Harry was joined by his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. The Invictus Games, which will run until next Friday, had been postponed for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.?

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also paid tribute to the Ukrainian team.

“Unity and solidarity will always win out over confrontation and conflict,” he said in a statement on social media. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian Invictus community. Some of them can’t be here because they are fighting on the frontlines. Others have lost their lives in the war. They are in our thoughts.

“The stories of the athletes competing in the Invictus Games are stories of resilience,” Rutte’s statement said. “They show us that, whatever challenges we face, our souls remain unconquered.”

Prince Harry founded the games in 2014 as a way to use sport to help the recovery and rehabilitation of injured service members. The Prince served in the British Army for 10 years and completed two tours in Afghanistan.

Before arriving in The Hague from their home in California, Harry and Meghan stopped by the UK to visit Queen Elizabeth.?

A car passes an oil refinery in Lysychansk after if was hit by a missile in the Luhansk region in Ukraine on Saturday.

As Sunday approaches in Ukraine, Russian forces appear to be focusing on areas in eastern Ukraine ahead of a planned ground offensive while carrying out strikes in other regions.

Attacks across Ukraine on Saturday:

Worries over ammunition: There is growing concern about the need to get more ammunition — and in particular artillery ammunition — to Ukrainian forces more rapidly as heavy ground combat against Russian units is expected to unfold in the coming days, according to a US official. Even the amount of security assistance from the US could be expended within several days, raising the prospect of Ukraine forces running out of ammunition, the official said.

Meanwhile, Russian leaders — angry over the loss of its Black Sea Fleet flagship — have warned of “unpredictable consequences” if the US continues supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Evacuations: Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said on Saturday that nearly 1,500 people have been evacuated so far from areas in southern and eastern Ukraine affected by fighting.

It took six hours for one elderly woman who spoke with CNN to be evacuated from a frontline town to the relative safety of a care home further west due to shelling threats, she said.

People stand in front of the entrance of a bomb shelter, where they have been hiding from shelling since the beginning of the war, in the Luhansk region of Severodonetsk on Saturday, April 16.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Saturday that 1,449 people have been evacuated so far from areas in southern and eastern Ukraine affected by fighting.

Vereshchuk said that only 170 people managed to escape from Mariupol by their own means of transport to Zaporizhzhia on Saturday.?Another 1,211 residents of Polohy, Vasylivka, Berdiansk and Melitopol made safe passage to Zaporizhzhia.?

Despite constant shelling, 68 people were evacuated from the cities of Severodonetsk, Rubizhne and Kreminna in the Luhansk region, Vereshchuk said.

Vereshchuk said that due to heavy and mass shelling, the evacuation of people from Lysychansk was completely disrupted.?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Saturday that “the UK will stop at nothing to ensure Ukrainians have the resources they need” to defend their country against Russia’s invasion, according to a statement on social media.

Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Saturday afternoon, according to the tweet.

In his own statement on Twitter, Zelensky said the two spoke about the agreements reached during Johnson’s recent visit to Kyiv earlier this month, adding that they spoke about defense and macro-financial support as well as the situation in the besieged port city of Mariupol.?

According to a statement from Downing Street, “the Prime Minister paid tribute to the bravery of Ukrainian forces who continue to valiantly defend their country’s freedom.”?

Hundreds who died in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha are now being exhumed more than two weeks after Russia’s occupation of the area.

There is a wide-scale operation to recover and identify the dead in the town’s mass grave and those buried in other shallow graves, according to CNN’s Phil Black.

The Russian retreat revealed?at least 20 bodies?lining a single street. The widow of a man who was killed while riding his bicycle said she urged her husband not to go outside, but he insisted on leaving their home. He was killed as soon as he reached the road, she said via translated remarks, and his bike still remains there.

There is a social media database that people can search to find images and information about their dead loved ones, Black reported, which is “harrowing” to go through.

More than 900 bodies of civilians from the Kyiv region have been discovered since the Russian army withdrew from the area, police said Friday.

Watch the report below. (Note: It contains graphic imagery.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on Saturday, according to statements from both leaders on social media.

“I described the critical situation in Mariupol,” Zelensky’s statement said. “We discussed defense support for Ukraine and toughening of anti-Russian sanctions.”

Zelensky said he thanked Andersson for supporting Ukraine’s membership in the European Union.

“Sweden and EU work relentlessly to support Ukraine, impose further sanctions on Russia, and ensure accountability for war crimes,” Andersson said in a statement.

Firefighters work to put out a fire at an oil refinery in Lysychansk after if was hit by a missile in the Luhansk region, Ukraine, on Saturday, April 16.

Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk region military administration, said there was extensive damage to civilian infrastructure following Russian strikes in the?eastern Ukrainian region.?

“In one day, the Russians damaged ten infrastructure facilities – an oil refinery and a hospital in Lysychansk,” he said. “Another 26 buildings were partially or completely destroyed. There were 16 residential buildings [hit] in Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna, and Lysychansk.”?

Haidai said?a strike on a market in the town of Lysychansk led to a fire that spread to two sludge tanks at a refinery, set fire to three bread vans and damaged a medical building.

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a shopping center and surrounding buildings after a Russian missile strike on Saturday, April 16, in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

The Kharkiv Prosecutor’s Office said Saturday that two civilians were killed and 18 injured in a cruise-missile strike in the northeastern Ukrainian city.

In a statement, the prosecutor’s office said Russian forces hit the Slobidskyi and Osnoviansky districts of Kharkiv with a Kalibr cruise-missile strike.?Residential buildings, cars, a market and shops were also damaged or destroyed, the statement said.?

Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said rescue workers were on the scene.

Elsewhere in the Kharkiv region, Serhii Zelensky, the mayor of the town of Lozova, urged residents to?evacuate immediately by train amid signs of a stepped-up Russian offensive.?

The mayor said an evacuation train to the city of Khmelnytskyi would be available Saturday afternoon, along with evacuation buses that would depart for the city of Pavlohrad.?

“You will be met there,” he said. “So don’t panic. Whoever wants, leave. There is no ground threat. Only – I repeat – missile danger. As well as bombing.”

CNN’s Clarissa Ward meets with 86-year-old Lidia from Avdiivka, Ukraine.

An elderly woman who was stuck in a frontline Ukrainian town that underwent heavy shelling has been evacuated to safety.

86-year-old Lidia from Avdiivka, Ukraine, told CNN’s Clarissa Ward on Thursday that she was spending her nights in pitch darkness while praying for an end to war.

“’I never imagined that my end would be like this,’ she says. ‘You can’t even die here because there’s no one to provide a burial ceremony,’” Ward reported, translating the woman’s words.

There was an outpouring of people all over the world wanting to help her after her story was told, Ward said. She was able to connect Lidia with a care home in Dnipro, she said.

It wasn’t easy to be evacuated, Ward said, translating her remarks, as there was a lot of shelling. It took six hours to make the journey west, and at one point, she and the volunteers had to pull over to wait for a few hours in a safe house, according to Ward.

Lidia’s son lives in Russia, Ward said, and she was hoping to finally get through to him today to tell him she has been evacuated.

Watch the interview here:

There is growing concern about the need to get more ammunition — and in particular artillery ammunition — to Ukrainian forces more rapidly as heavy ground combat against Russian units is expected to unfold in the coming days, according to a US official.

While the United States is shipping 18 155mm towed howitzers and?40,000?artillery rounds to Ukraine as part of the new security assistance announced by President Joe Biden’s administration this week,?even that amount could be expended within several days, raising the prospect of Ukraine forces running out of ammunition, the official said.

During some of the heavy earlier fighting, Ukrainian forces fired up to thousands of artillery rounds in a given day, the official noted.?

Going forward, the US believes the likely Russia strategy is to move weapons and troops into eastern Ukraine from their current positions just north,?and then encircle and cut off Ukraine forces that are there, the official said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley are conducting daily phone calls with counterparts in the region to encourage them to ship more weapons and supplies to Ukraine as soon as possible.

Earlier this week,?the Pentagon hosted the CEOs of the military’s eight largest prime contractors to figure out how to arm Ukraine faster.

The roundtable discussion, led by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, focused on the Pentagon’s objectives to keep supplying Ukraine with arms while also being able to maintain the readiness of US forces and support the defense of allies.

Polish Mi-17 helicopters are seen during Dragon-17 military exercises at the military range near Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, September 21, 2017. Agencja Gazeta/Cezary Aszkielowicz via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. POLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN POLAND.

Related article Why the Biden administration is giving new, heavier weapons to Ukraine

Members of the Kharkiv emergency response services unit search a rooftop for rocket debris from recent Russian attacks on April 15, in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

At least one person has been killed and several others injured in Kyiv after the Ukrainian capital “came under fire” on Saturday morning, the city’s mayor said.

Fighting has intensified in eastern and southern Ukraine after the sinking of Russian flagship Moskva in the Black Sea?earlier this week.

And a senior US defense official said Ukrainian missiles hit?Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea?earlier this week – supporting Ukraine’s account.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

Smoke is seen rising over Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, April 16.

At least one person was killed and several others injured in Kyiv after the Ukrainian capital “came under fire” on Saturday morning, the city’s mayor said.

“As a result of the morning rocket strike, one person was killed and several injured were hospitalized in the Darnytskyi district of the capital,” Mayor?Vitali Klitschko said in televised remarks.

“Our air defense forces are doing everything possible to protect us, but the enemy is insidious and ruthless,” he added.

Klitschko earlier urged residents who have evacuated from Kyiv to refrain from returning, after several explosions on the outskirts of the capital.

“It is no secret that one of the Russian generals recently stated that they were ready for missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital.?And, as we see, they are carrying out such shelling,” he added.

Some context: The Russian military warned on Wednesday that it would strike Ukrainian “decision-making centers” – including those in Ukraine’s capital – in response to what it said were “attempts of sabotage and strikes” on Russian soil.

Two days later Russia carried out such an attack on a “military facility” on the outskirts of Kyiv.

“Tonight a military facility on the outskirts of Kyiv was hit by Kalibr high-precision long-range sea-launched missiles,” said Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov.

“As a result of the strike on the Zhuliany Vizar machine-building plant workshops for the production and repair of long-range and medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems were destroyed, as well as anti-ship missiles,”?Konashenkov added.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to the media in London on April 7.

Russia has banned UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his predecessor Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and other British government members from entering the country in response to sanctions.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry attributed its decision on Saturday to the “unprecedented?hostile actions of the British government, expressed, in particular, in the imposition of sanctions against the top officials of the Russian Federation.”

“London’s unbridled information and political campaign aimed at the international isolation of Russia, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the Russian economy” were responsible for the decision, the ministry said in a statement.?

“In essence, the British leadership are deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine, pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO,” the ministry added.

“The instigation by London is also unacceptable, that is strongly pushing not only its Western allies, but also other countries to introduce large-scale anti-Russian sanctions, which, however, are senseless and counterproductive,” the ministry said.

Some context: The UK has joined other Western nations in imposing restrictive sanctions on Russian individuals and institutions amid President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In March, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a ban on the export of luxury goods to Russia, and tariffs on Russia goods worth more than $1 billion.

Sunak added that the UK will also deny Russia and Belarus access to its most favored nation trading tariff for hundreds of their exports, effectively depriving both countries from key benefits of their World Trade Organization membership.

The additional 35% tariff on Russian goods will be applied to imports including vodka, steel, works of art and fur.

A few days later, the UK revoked revoked the broadcasting license?of the Kremlin-backed propaganda network RT, according to a statement from regulators.

The?statement?from regulator Ofcom said its investigation into RT had found its licensee, ANO TV Novosti, was not fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast license.

And earlier this month, Britain sanctioned two “key Russian oligarchs” connected to?Russian billionaire Roman?Abramovich, freezing up to $13 billion of assets linked to Eugene Tenenbaum and David Davidovich.

The sanction was “the largest asset freeze action in UK history,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The British government added that the sanctions were coordinated with Jersey authorities, who CNN reported earlier this week froze more than $7 billion dollars’ worth of assets “suspected to be connected” to Abramovich.

“We are tightening the ratchet on Putin’s war machine and targeting the circle of people closest to the Kremlin. We will keep going with sanctions until Putin fails in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was quoted saying in the statement.

Britain has sanctioned 106 Russian oligarchs, family members and associates since February, the statement added.

Residents stay in the basement of a residential building to protect themselves from shelling in Lysychansk, Luhansk region on April 13.

Civilians remaining in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine have been urged to leave by a local official, as fighting in the area escalates.

More than 70,000 residents of Luhansk region have not yet left for safe cities, according to Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional administration.

About 330,000 people lived in the parts of Luhansk not under separatist control before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Haidai said on his Telegram account on Saturday.

More than 32,000 people have been evacuated in 52 days by organized transport, and more than 200,000 had left on their own.

He also accused the Russian forces of attacking civilian areas in the worst-affected towns of Rubizhne, Popasna and Hirske, which he said had been?“destroyed beyond recognition.”

About 70% of Severodonetsk – the main city in the area under Russian attack – was destroyed, but about 20,000 of the 130,000 citizens who lived there before the war remained in the city, he said.

Shelling in Kreminna and Lysychansk continued day and night, Haidai added. A CNN team in Lysychansk Saturday morning witnessed the shelling of a market in the town.

“Destruction of the area on a ??terrible scale. It becomes extremely difficult to help those who remain. Volunteers die,” Haidai said.

Haidai’s comments come amid warnings of a major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, where new satellite images have captured increasing numbers of Russian troops and armored vehicles pouring into the region.

Despite economic sanctions and pointed criticism from global leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears ready to use almost any means necessary to fulfill his ambition of?gaining control of that region.

CNN’s Maeve Reston contributed reporting to this post.

The situation in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv and Kherson regions is “increasingly hostile” following the loss of a Russian warship in the Black Sea, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

“During the past day, the situation in the south of Ukraine has been characterized by increasing hostile aggression,” Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a video statement.

“Desperately trying to gain a foothold and hold on to the positions of the southern front, the world’s most shameful army is pursuing civilians in Mykolayiv and Kherson regions,” the statement added. “The work of snipers has been recorded in some areas.”

Russian forces were “enraged by the losses in the Black Sea” – an apparent reference to the sinking of the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva – and had “intensified the missile threat” in the region, the statement continued. ?

Mykolaiv and several other settlements of the region have come under heavy fire, including from cluster munitions, the statement said.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has previously said it had received credible allegations that Russian armed forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas in Ukraine.?

The nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also confirmed Russia’s use of cluster munitions throughout the conflict.

Some background: The Moskva – one of the?Russian Navy’s most important warships?– sunk in the Black Sea on Thursday.

Ukraine claims that it hit Moskva with missiles, causing it to sink. Russia has insisted the reason for the sinking was a fire. On Friday, the United States supported Ukraine’s account, with a senior defense official saying that it believes that two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Russian warship in the Black Sea.

Whether the ship lies at the bottom of the sea as the victim of Ukrainian missiles, Russian incompetence, bad luck or a combination of all three remains disputed.?

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in southern Ukraine suggested that Russian missile attacks in the south since Thursday night were in retaliation for the?Moskva’s descent, telling a media briefing, “we all realize that we will not be forgiven.”

“We realize that attacks on us will increase, that the enemy will try to take revenge,” Humeniuk said.?“We are ready, we are resisting.”

CNN’s Tim Lister, Olga Voitovych?and Brad Lendon contributed reporting to this post.

Firefighters drive towards a fire at a factory after a Russian attack, on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 15.

Russian attacks have intensified in a range of locations in eastern Ukraine including Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk, according to Ukrainian military and regional officials.

Russian forces appear to be heavily shelling areas of all three regions ahead of a planned ground offensive.

Around Slobozhansky, which is an area south of Kharkiv, “the main focus of the Russian enemy is on the regrouping and strengthening of troops,” the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.

Russian forces aim to block off the city of Kharkiv, which continues to see persistent shelling, and have concentrated up to 22 battalion tactical groups around Izium, the General Staff added. A battalion tactical group normally comprises about 1,000 troops.

“The main efforts of the enemy are focused on maintaining the previously occupied positions,” it said, noting the deployment of additional Russian units.

In Donetsk region, Russian efforts were focused on taking the towns of Popasna and Rubizhne, while also establishing full control over the strategic port city of Mariupol, it added.

The General Staff also spoke of constant fire against Ukrainian positions around Popasna, saying that Russian forces are “trying to improve the tactical situation, to advance deep into the settlement of Popasna,” but were eventually foiled.

It reported intensified shelling around the city of Severodonetsk, “in order to inflict losses, deplete our troops and possibly prepare for offensive operations,” as well as shelling further south in Toretsk.

One?person was killed in Kreminna, just to the north-west of Severodonetsk, a local official said.

Efforts are continuing to get residents of the towns of Rubizhne and Kreminna to safety amid heavy fighting in the area, Serhii Haidai, head of Luhansk regional administration said. He added that there is no water or gas in Severodonetsk.

In the last day, 10 Russian enemy attacks were held off in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the General Staff added.

“The main events that we will talk about in the coming days, or rather weeks, will be events related to the fighting in Ukrainian Donbas,” Vadym Denysenko, an adviser at the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, said on Saturday.

Russian missile attacks have expanded to other areas beyond the Donbas region, Ukrainian officials say.

One person was killed in an attack on a village near the city of Poltava, Dmytro Lunin, the head of the Poltava military administration, said.

The country’s top general said he spoke with the top US military official on Friday.

Valery Zaluzhny said he discussed “heavy fighting on the Kharkiv-Izium border, deterrence of the Russian offensive in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the critical situation around Mariupol, and rocket fire throughout Ukraine,” with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley.

“I reiterated the urgent needs for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in armaments and ammunition to strengthen our defense capabilities,” Zaluzhny added.?

The news comes as Russian preparations continue in eastern Ukraine for an offensive operation.

Shelling overnight by Russian forces damaged gas pipelines in the Ukrainian towns of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, a local official said.

One person was killed and three were injured in the bombardment, which damaged pipelines in the two towns, and also struck the town of Kreminna, Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk regional administration, said in a statement on Telegram.

“Late in the evening, firefighters found the body of a man without signs of life under the rubble of one of the vocational schools in Kreminna,” he said. “Three women were injured as a result of the shelling in Lysychansk. They were evacuated from the damaged house and received timely medical care.”

The central gas pipeline in Severodonetsk was damaged, and work was underway Saturday to restore water supply infrastructure that was damaged on Friday, Haidai added.

“There is no water and gas in the city,” he said. “An enemy shell also hit the gas pipeline in Lysychansk, but the consequences are less significant.”

On Friday, Haidai said that shelling in Severodonetsk had damaged the water supply system and destroyed two food warehouses.

The shelling came amid warnings of a major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine in the coming days.

CNN’s Kostan Nechyporenko and Yulia Kesaieva contributed reporting to this post.

A family sits in the hallway of their apartment building as Russian attacks continue in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on April 15.

Two hundred children have been killed in Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to attack the country in late February, the office of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General said in a statement on Saturday.

The office added that more than 360 children have been injured during the war so far.

Five children were injured and two of them died – including a 7-month-old baby – in a Russian strike on Kharkiv on Friday, the office said.

It added that a 15-year-old boy was injured on Thursday as a result of the detonation of a cluster munition on the outskirts of Novovorontsovka settlement in the Kherson region.

Earlier this week, UNICEF said that nearly two-thirds of?Ukrainian children?are now displaced due to the ongoing conflict.

UNICEF’s emergency programs director Manuel Fontaine told the UN Security Council on Monday that he had “rarely seen so much damage caused in so little time” after returning from a visit to Ukraine.

Fontaine said the UN had verified the deaths of 142 children with 229 injured as of Sunday, but that “the true figures are most certainly much higher given the scale of attacks.”

He also drew attention to the 3.2 million children estimated to still be in their homes.

“Nearly half may be at risk of not having enough food,” he said. “Attacks on water system infrastructure and power outages have left an estimated 1.4 million people without access to water in Ukraine.?Another 4.6 million people have only limited access.

“The situation is even worse in cities like?Mariupol?and?Kherson, where children and their families have now gone weeks without running water and sanitation services, a regular supply of food, and medical care. They are sheltering in their homes and underground, waiting for the bombs and violence to stop.”

He also said unaccompanied children in Ukraine face a “much higher risk of violence, abuse, exploitation, and trafficking,” and pointed to the impacts of school closures on 1.5 million students in higher education and 5.7 million school-age children.

CNN’s Richard Roth and Yulia Kesaieva contributed reporting to this post.

The head of the Lviv regional military administration in western Ukraine said Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems downed Russian cruise missiles that were fired on Saturday morning toward the Lviv region.

“In the morning of April 16, missiles were fired at the Lviv region from Su-35 aircraft of the Russian occupiers,” Regional military governor Maksym Kozytsky said. “Units of anti-aircraft missile forces Air Command West of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed four cruise missiles.”?

Kozytsky also claimed the Russian aircraft that fired the missiles had taken off from Baranovichi airfield in neighboring Belarus.

Some context: Belarus has been used as a springboard for many of Russia’s air operations in Ukraine, according to intelligence collected by NATO surveillance planes.

The Ukrainian military previously said it has shot down several missiles fired towards its territory from Belarus.

After Russia failed to gain the ground it wanted around Kyiv, forces retreated back into Belarus to regroup and redeploy. Belarus has also been recognized as a key ally for Russia on the world stage.

While NATO fears that the Kremlin may call on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to deploy his army to bolster Moscow’s forces on the battlefield, US President Joe Biden leveled twin sanctions against both countries on April 8.

One bill suspends normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus and punishes the countries by paving the way for higher tariffs on imports from them, while the other prohibits energy imports from Russia, including oil, coal and natural gas.

CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz, Sarah Dean, Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou and Nikki Carvajal contributed reporting to this post.

Civilians fleeing the besieged port city of Mariupol have been told to make their own way to the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, as wet weather has halted bus evacuations.

Buses are unable to travel through a washed-out section of road between the town of Vasylivka and Zaporizhzhia to its north, according to a social media post by Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Instead, people leaving the cities of Mariupol, Berdiansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar have been told to travel to Zaporizhzhia themselves.

Five evacuation corridors have been set up in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. All are directed toward Bakhmut, directly east of the town of Luhansk.

Vereshchuk called on Russia to respect the corridors. She added that the evacuation corridors in the Luhansk region “will operate subject to the cessation of shelling by the occupying forces.”

Some context: Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of stalling evacuation efforts across the country.

Vereshchuk announced nine evacuation routes on Thursday, adding that there were no corridors on Wednesday in the Zaporizhzhia region because “the occupiers blocked evacuation buses, and in Luhansk region, they are violating the ceasefire.”

Up to 180,000 people are waiting to be evacuated from in and around?the strategic port city of Mariupol, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said on Wednesday during an online media briefing. Boychenko’s comments were interpreted in English via Ukraine’s government-supported Media Center.

At the end of March, Boychenko echoed the words of his compatriots and said that evacuation corridors had come largely under the control of Russian forces.

“Not everything is in our power,” Boychenko said, in a live television interview at the time. “Unfortunately, we are in the hands of the occupiers today.”

CNN’s Nathan Hodge and Amy Cassidy contributed reporting to this post.

Barricades built by citizens at neighborhood entrances are seen as Russian attacks continue on Ukraine in Lviv, Ukraine on April 15.

Kyiv has once again come under fire on Saturday, with several explosions on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, according to the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko.

More than 900 bodies of Ukrainian civilians have been discovered in the Kyiv region since Russia’s withdrawal.

And a senior US defense official said Ukrainian missiles hit?Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea?earlier this week – supporting Ukraine’s account.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

Smoke is seen rising over Darnytskyi District of Kyiv, Ukraine on April 16.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement that the Ukrainian capital “came under fire” on Saturday morning.?

“The explosions were in Darnytsky district on the outskirts of the city,” he said. “Rescuers and medics are currently working on the scene. Information about casualties is being clarified.”?

Some residents have begun returning to Kyiv after the failure of a Russian offensive launched from the north of Ukraine. Klitschko urged Kyiv residents to reconsider returning for the time being, saying: “I ask you to refrain from this and stay in safer places.”

Maksym Kozytskyy, the military governor of the Lviv region in western Ukraine, said Saturday that “air defenses were working” during an air raid alarm that?began at 5:46 a.m. local time and lasted until 7:02 a.m.?

President Joe Biden speaks to the media before boarding Air Force One at Des Moines International Airport, in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.

When?President Joe Biden?labeled?Russia’s actions in Ukraine “genocide” this week,?the response by his team looked much different than when he declared, also unplanned, that?Vladimir Putin shouldn’t be in power.

Both comments caught advisers off guard, appearing nowhere in his scripted remarks and going well beyond the official government position. His remark about genocide happened inside an ethanol processing plant in Iowa, standing atop a stage covered in straw.

Like his declaration at Warsaw’s royal castle that Putin “cannot remain in power,” Biden identifying genocide in Ukraine prompted questions about what, if anything, the new?rhetoric meant for the grinding conflict.?

But unlike with the earlier remark, Biden had been discussing the prospect of genocide in Ukraine for the past week, according to a person familiar with the matter, making his comment less of a shock. And instead of a carefully written statement attributed to an unnamed official, which in Warsaw?only led to more questions, Biden made a decision to do the explaining himself.

As Biden confronts a war officials believe?could go on for months, he is navigating both the weight of the presidency and its confines. His words are closely parsed for official meaning, even when they are ad-libbed, leading to worries about escalating the crisis.

At the same time, his impulse to visit Ukraine and witness the situation firsthand has been hampered by the bubble that accompanies him everywhere. And domestic concerns are pulling him in other directions, his remit extending well beyond a foreign war – leading to sometimes-discordant scenarios like declaring?genocide?inside a biofuel plant, bits of corn dust floating from above.

Read the full story here.

The graves of civilians killed in Bucha during the war with Russia, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on April 14.

More than 900 bodies of Ukrainian civilians have been discovered in the Kyiv region since Russia’s withdrawal. Ukrainian officials reported strikes across multiple regions Friday, as an official warned the situation was getting more tense.

And a senior US defense official said Ukrainian missiles hit Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea earlier this week – supporting Ukraine’s account.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

Ukrainian President?Volodymyr Zelensky?told CNN Friday that “all of the countries of the world” should be prepared for the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons in his war on Ukraine.

Zelensky told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an exclusive interview from the office of the president in Kyiv on Friday that Putin could turn to either nuclear or chemical weapons because he does not value the lives of the people of Ukraine.

“Chemical weapons, they should do it, they could do it, for them the life of the people, nothing. That’s why,” Zelensky said. “We should think not be afraid, not be afraid but be ready. But that is not a question for Ukraine, not only for Ukraine but for all the world, I think.”

Zelensky has remained in Ukraine throughout the course of the 50-day war with Russia, as Ukraine’s forces have resisted the Kremlin’s attempts to seize Kyiv and forced Russia to refocus its war efforts on the eastern and southern regions of the country, where Ukraine is anticipating a significant escalation in fighting in the days to come.

One of Russia’s most important naval warships?sunk in the Black Sea?this week, which Ukraine said was the result of a missile strike, while Russia claimed it was due to a fire from the detonation of ammunition.

At the same time, Russia is?firing cruise missiles?into the outskirts of Kyiv and still maintains the ability to target Ukraine’s capital with long-range weaponry.

US officials have warned about the possibility that Putin, if backed into a corner, could turn to the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. CIA Director Bill Burns said Thursday that the CIA watches “very intently” over the possibility, while emphasizing that the US has not yet seen any signs that Russia is preparing to take such a step.

“Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they’ve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons,” he said in public remarks at Georgia Tech.

Watch a clip of the interview here.

You can see more of the interview on “The Lead” at 4 p.m. ET and the full interview will run on Sunday at 9 a.m. ET on “State of the Union.”

The Russian warship Moskva is seen docked in Sevastopol, Crimea in this satellite image from April 7.

Two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Moskva — Russia’s flagship in the Black Sea — earlier this week, a senior defense official said Friday.

A more detailed assessment from an American official said that the strike and subsequent sinking of the ship was the result of a Ukrainian missile.

CNN reported yesterday the US believed with “medium confidence” that Ukraine’s version of events regarding a missile strike on the warship —?which Moscow has disputed —?was accurate, according to a source familiar with the intelligence.

Workers exhume two bodies from graves in the village of Vablia, Kyiv region on April 14.

More than 900 bodies of civilians have been discovered since the Russian army withdrew from the area, the head of the Kyiv regional police said during a briefing on Friday.?

Andrii Niebytov said the bodies were examined and transferred to forensic medical institutions for detailed examination.?

Niebytov also said that the?bodies of some people in the village of Shevchenko ?had been identified, adding that “they were ordinary locals, unfortunately also tortured, and we see that they were shot.”?

Niebytov said some of the people that were shot had white armbands on them to try to protect themselves from Russian forces.

“During the occupation of our cities, the occupiers forced citizens to wear white armbands as if this person had already been checked and was therefore not treated so meticulously. Therefore, in order to save their lives, our citizens wore these bandages themselves to protect themselves from gunshots,” he said. ?

He said that wearing white armbands did not always work, “even if they hung white rags on the fences of their apartments,” adding that there were also children who were living in those apartments.

The Russian?guided-missile cruiser Moskva sails back to the port of Sevastopol, Crimea on November 16, 2021.

The Russian?guided-missile cruiser Moskva?rests deep beneath the Black Sea today.

Ukraine claims that it hit Moskva with missiles, causing it to sink. Russia has insisted the reason for the sinking was a fire. On Friday, the United States supported Ukraine’s account, with a senior defense official saying that it believes that two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Russian warship in the Black Sea.

But what does the loss of the Moskva mean for the Russian war effort?

The biggest effect may be on Russian morale. As the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva was one of its most visible assets in the Ukraine war. Though Moscow carefully manages news about the war in Russia, it will be hard to hide the sudden absence of such a large ship.

And its loss will raise doubts about Russia’s warfighting abilities, whether it was due to enemy action or accident.

Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, said the doubts went all the way to the Kremlin.

“It raises questions about naval competence 10 years after (Russian President Vladimir) Putin announced he was going to restore the navy’s capabilities, morale and professionalism,” Schuster said.

“It seems he has not been able to keep any of his promises for any of Russia’s military services,” Schuster said, noting?Russia had suffered setbacks?on land too.

But analysts are split on what impact the sinking will have on the Russian invasion.

The ISW analysts see it as a relatively minor blow, saying the ship was mostly used for cruise missile strikes on Ukrainian logistic centers and airfields. Russia has land-based systems and strike aircraft that can do the same thing, they said.

However, they added that if it was indeed a Ukrainian missile that led to the sinking, the Russian navy would have to rethink its operations, possibly moving ships farther from Ukrainian territory and adjusting their air defenses.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Moskva’s main mission was air defense for the Russian forces in the Black Sea.

Read more about the ship’s sinking here.