6.25 a.m. BST 06:25
Fighting in eastern Ukraine will intensify, says the British Foreign Office
Fighting in eastern Ukraine will intensify over the next two to three weeks as Russia continues to refocus its efforts in the region, the UK Ministry of Defense has said. The latest report from the British Secret Service, published shortly after 6 p.m. GMT, states: Fighting in eastern Ukraine will intensify over the next two to three weeks as Russia continues to refocus its efforts there. The Russian attacks remain focused on Ukrainian positions near Donetsk and Luhansk with further battles around Kherson and Mykolaiv and a new impetus towards Kramatorsk. “Russian forces are still withdrawing from Belarus to re-deploy to support operations in eastern Ukraine.” Ministry of Defense 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) Last updated defense information on the situation in Ukraine – April 12, 2022 Learn more about the UK Government’s response: https://t.co/kt8tMUxq3P 🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/vGy3y0iSjJ April 12, 2022
6.14 p.m. BST 06:14
Zelensky warns of ‘new stage of terror’ amid allegations of chemical weapons attack
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has expressed concern that Russian forces could use chemical weapons in Ukraine, but did not confirm whether they were used in his daily video speech late Monday. Zelensky said Russia had claimed that its forces could use chemical weapons against Mariupol defenders and that it was taking the allegations seriously. Today the occupiers issued a new statement, which testifies to their preparation for a new stage of terror against Ukraine and our defenders. One of the spokespersons of the occupiers stated that they could use chemical weapons against the defenders of Mariupol. We take it as seriously as possible. “I want to remind world leaders that the possible use of chemical weapons by the Russian military has already been discussed. “And already at that time it meant that it was necessary to react to Russian aggression much harder and faster.” “New stage of terror”: Zelensky expresses concern over possible chemical weapons attack – video Ukrainian authorities said Monday night that a Russian drone had dropped a toxic substance on the southeastern city of Mariupol late Monday night. Ivanna Klympush, a Ukrainian lawmaker and chair of the parliamentary committee on Ukraine’s EU accession, said the unknown substance was “most likely” chemical weapons. Klympush claimed that the attack took place around 10 pm local time, writing on Twitter: “This morning the Russians threatened to use” chemical troops “against the defenders of Mariupol.” “Victims develop respiratory failure, vestib.-atactic syndrome. Probably chem. [chemical] arms!” she added. The alert was first signaled by the Ukrainian regiment Azov, a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, which said chemicals of “unknown origin” were dropped through an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on civilians. In a Telegram update, the constitution said: The Russian occupation forces used poisonous substance of unknown origin against Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in the city of Mariupol, which fell from an enemy UAV. The victims have respiratory failure, vestibular-atrial syndrome. The consequences of the use of an unknown substance are being clarified “. Azov leader Andriy Biletsky told the Kyiv Independent that three people showed signs of chemical poisoning, but there appeared to be no “catastrophic consequences” for their health.
6.03 p.m. BST 06:03
4.8 million children have been displaced from Ukraine, according to the UN
Nearly 5 million children – two-thirds of all Ukrainian children – have fled their homes in the six weeks since the invasion of Russia, the UN children’s service has said. Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s director of emergency programs, said it was “very unbelievable” that 4.8 million of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children had been displaced in such a short period of time. He said it was something he had never seen happen so quickly in 31 years of humanitarian work. “They have been forced to leave everything behind – their homes, their schools and, often, their family members,” he told the UN Security Council. “I have heard stories of desperate steps parents are taking to bring their children to safety and children are sad that they can not go back to school.” The agency said it had also verified the deaths of 142 young people, although the number is almost certainly much higher. Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, has claimed that Russia has taken more than 121,000 children from Ukraine and reportedly drafted a bill to simplify and speed up adoption processes for orphans, even those with parents and other relatives. . A child waits on the train for Poland at the Central Railway Station on Monday, April 11, in Lviv, Ukraine. Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images
5.53 a.m. BST 05:53
More than 10,000 civilians were killed in Mariupol, the mayor said
More than 10,000 civilians were killed in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the city’s mayor said. Vadim Boichenko said the death toll could rise to more than 20,000, as weeks of attacks and a lack of food and supplies have left the bodies “on the streets” in an interview with the Associated Press. Boichenko also accused Russian forces of blocking weeks of humanitarian convoys in the city in an attempt to hide the massacre there from the outside world. Mariupol has been hit hard by Russian attacks and has suffered some of the most brutal attacks of the war. Graves of killed civilians are seen next to apartment buildings in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine. Photo: Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters Boichenko gave new details about recent allegations by Ukrainian officials that Russian forces had brought mobile incineration equipment to Mariupol to remove the bodies of the victims of the siege. Russian forces transported many bodies to a huge shopping mall with storage facilities and refrigerators, Boychenko said. “Mobile crematoria have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burning,” he said. Speaking to South Korean lawmakers via video link Monday, Zelensky said “tens of thousands” of people were likely killed in Mariupol. It is not possible to independently verify the death toll in the besieged southeastern city, but if a number of this magnitude is confirmed, it will be by far the highest death toll in any city or town in Ukraine since the start of the war. The forces defending the besieged port city said that their ammunition was over. “Today will probably be the last battle,” the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote on social media. “It’s death for some of us and captivity for the rest.” Residents are moving their belongings near buildings that have been destroyed in Mariupol. Photo: Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters
5.43 a.m. BST 05:43
Russia likely to try to take control of Mariupol before entering Donetsk, Ukraine says
Russian forces are likely to try to take control of the city of Mariupol before entering the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military has said. The strategy will be part of an impending massive offensive in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is believed to be trying to link occupied Crimea with Moscow-backed separatist territories of Donetsk and Lugansk in Donbas. According to Ukraine’s latest operational report at 6 a.m. this morning, officials believe Russia is trying to regroup and move troops to Belarus and Russia before launching an offensive in Donetsk. Ukrainian forces are “surrounded and blocked,” Myhaylo Podolyak, an official in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, wrote on Twitter on Monday night. However, the Ukrainian military insisted that “the defense of Mariupol continues”, adding that Ukrainian troops had prevented six Russian attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk in the last 24 hours. “The connection with the units of the defense forces that heroically hold the city is stable and maintained,” the Ukrainian ground forces wrote in the Telegram. Ukrainian tanks move on a street in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, on Monday. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka / AP Updated at 5.59 a.m. BST
5.25 p.m. BST 05:25
Russian President Vladimir Putin will …
