Red Cross unable to reach Mariupol for evacuations; Kremlin claims Ukraine targeted oil depot in Russia: Live updates
Talks between Ukraine and Russia to stop fighting resumed as scheduled on Friday, as Ukrainian officials denied responsibility for a helicopter attack on a Russian oil depot.
Russian officials accused Ukraine of the strike in the Belgorod region. If confirmed, it would mark the first Ukrainian airstrike on Russian soil.
“Certainly, this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for the continuation of the talks,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, said the Russian claims do not “correspond with reality.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declined to comment on whether he ordered the alleged attack during an interview on Fox News. Zelenskyy said he does not discuss any orders he issues as commander in chief.
Russia continued withdrawing some of its troops from around Ukraine’s capital Friday, though Ukrainian and Western officials have said Russian forces may be resupplying and shifting focus elsewhere.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday that its attempt to evacuate residents in the besieged port city Mariupol failed but they would try again Saturday.
“Today, our team tried to facilitate a safe passage out of Mariupol,” the ICRC said in a Twitter statement Friday. “But had to return to Zaporizhzhia after conditions made it impossible to proceed. We will try again tomorrow.”
The city remained closed for entry and was “very dangerous” for people trying to leave, said Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the mayor of Mariupol. He added that Russian forces had been blocking humanitarian supplies since Thursday, according to Reuters.
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of people have made it out of Mariupol through humanitarian corridors, reducing the city’s population from 430,000 to 100,000 by last week.
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Latest developments:
► Negotiations to stop the fighting between Russia and Ukraine resumed Friday.
►Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy’s office said 86 Ukrainian service members were freed in the Zaporizhzhia region as part of a prisoner swap with Russia. The number of Russians released was not disclosed.
►Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 153 children have been killed and 245 injured, according to a Telegram post from Ukraine attorney general’s office on Friday. The most children have been injured in the Kyiv region.
► It will cost at least $10 billion to renew the Mariupol’s’ infrastructure due to damage caused by the war, the city council said in a Telegram post Friday. Mayor Vadim Boychenko said he would push for reparations from Russia to compensate for Mariupol and its citizens’ “suffering and damage.”
►Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree Thursday demanding payment for natural gas in rubles but appeared to temper the order by allowing dollar and euro payments through a designated bank
Pentagon announces $300 million more in military gear for Ukraine
The U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday evening it will provide an additional $300 million in military equipment to Ukraine.
“This decision underscores the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in support of its heroic efforts to repel Russia’s war of choice,” said John Kirby, Defense Department press secretary.
Kirby said the equipment will include laser-guided rocket systems, unmanned aircraft, armored vehicles, weapons, ammunition, night vision gear and medical supplies.
The equipment adds to the $1.6 billion in U.S. aid money to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began, he said.
Ukrainian official says Mariupol still ‘very dangerous’ as citizens try to escape
An attempt by humanitarian groups to remove civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol failed Friday.
A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross was planning to enter Mariupol to deliver emergency humanitarian aid and begin evacuating residents but had to return to Zaporizhzhia.
The Mariupol city council said Friday that buses escorted by the Red Cross and State Emergency Service of Ukraine would take more than 2,000 citizens. The Russian military said it committed to a ceasefire between Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia.
But Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the mayor of Mariupol, said Friday the city remained closed for entry and was “very dangerous” for people trying to leave, according to Reuters. He added that Russian forces had been blocking humanitarian supplies since Thursday.
“This effort has been and remains extremely complex,” the ICRC wrote Friday on Twitter.
Although the large effort on Friday failed, smaller groups have been able to leave the city via private transport, the New York Times reported, citing a statement from Iryna Vereshchuk, the deputy prime minister, on her Telegram page. Evacuees from Berdyansk and a few from Mariupol have been arriving at the registration center in Zaporizhzhia on private vehicles and buses carrying bags and pets, photos from the site show.
— Ella Lee and N’dea Yancey-Bragg
WHAT’S HAPPENING, AND WHERE:Mapping and tracking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
VISUALS:The devastation of Mariupol
Ukraine disputes Kremlin claims about airstrike on Russian fuel depot
Vyacheslav Gladkov, regional governor of Belgorod, wrote on Telegram on Friday that two Ukrainian helicopters conducted an airstrike late Thursday on the oil facility in Belgorod, about 21 miles from Russia’s border with Ukraine.
Gladkov first wrote that two oil workers were injured but later said there were no victims. And Rosneft, the Russian oil firm that owns the fuel depot, said in a separate statement that no one was hurt in the fire, according to Reuters.
Kyiv has denied any involvement in the attack.
“For some reason they say that we did it, but according to our information this does not correspond to reality,” Ukraine’s Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Ukrainian television.
Tensions rise between Western nations and China
Leaders in the European Union on Friday told Chinese President Xi Jinping that China would hurt its global reputation if it provides Russia with economic or military assistance.
“We called on China to end the war in Ukraine,” European Council President Charles Michel told reporters in Brussels after the meeting, according to the Washington Post. “China cannot turn a blind eye to Russia’s violation of international law.”
While China says it is not taking sides in the conflict, it has declared a “no limits” partnership with Moscow, has refused to condemn the invasion, opposes sanctions on Russia and routinely amplifies Russian disinformation about the conflict, including not referring to it as an invasion or a war in keeping with Russian practice.
American and European leaders aim to strike a difficult balance with China, both warning the nation over Ukraine and hoping to preserve a relationship.
Meanwhile earlier on Friday, China accused the United States of instigating the war in Ukraine, saying NATO should have been disbanded following the break-up of the Soviet Union.
“As the culprit and leading instigator of the Ukraine crisis, the U.S. has led NATO to engage in five rounds of eastward expansion in the last two decades after 1999,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing.
Lijian added that the number of NATO members increased from 16 to 30, moving eastward and “pushing Russia to the wall step by step.”
— Ella Lee
16 US colleges to issue Ukrainian president honorary degrees
A collection of 16 American colleges, one with Ukrainian roots, plan to issue honorary degrees to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Manor College, a private Catholic institution in Pennsylvania founded by Ukrainian nuns in 1947, said Zelenskyy “exemplifies leadership through crisis and caring for his people worthy of the conferring of this degree,” according to a news release.
The other 15 colleges include Adrian College in Michigan, Bard College in New York, Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina and Shenandoah University in Virginia. The group is encouraging other universities “to join them in elevating the profile of President Zelenskyy’s heroism and his courageous efforts to protect western civilization.”
Manor College said the Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Philadelphia, Iryna Mazur, will accept the degree on Zelenskyy’s behalf.
Alfred University president Mark Zupan asked the Ukrainian embassy if Zelenskyy would be able to receive the degree by video, according to the Democrat & Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network. The embassy said no, given he is busy fighting a war.
— Chris Quintana
Peace talks between Ukraine and Russia resume Friday
Russia and Ukraine resumed negotiations online Friday. Russian delegation head Vladimir Medinsky published a picture of the talks underway, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office confirmed to The Associated Press that the negotiations had resumed.
Meanwhile, Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, said the alleged attack on the Russian fuel depot “cannot be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for continuing the talks,” How Ukrainian students in US are coping with war, thousands of miles away
Marta Hulievska, a freshman student at Dartmouth College, has been organizing campus rallies to raise awareness about the war in Ukraine to keep her from reading the news and worrying about her family. Her mother, sisters and grandma were forced to flee to western Ukraine while her dad stayed behind in their hometown of Zaporizhzhia.
“You kind of enter like this alternative world where you’re not in America and you’re not in Ukraine, you’re like somewhere in between,” she said, describing her experience as “second-hand PTSD.”
An estimated Russian troops depart Chernobyl after extended exposure
Russian military troops departed the heavily contaminated Chernobyl nuclear power plant early Friday,
Contributing: The Associated Press
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