Russia Ukraine War LIVE Updates: Next few days of war crucial, says Zelenskyy

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol tells The Associated Press that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the southeastern city since the Russian invasion in February. Mayor Vadym Boychenko told The Associated Press by telephone Monday that corpses were “carpeted through the streets of our city” and that the death toll could be more than 20,000.

The US has not asked India to do anything in particular on the issue of oil import from Russia during a virtual summit between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the White House said on Monday, underling that New Delhi will make its own decisions with regard to various issues related to Russia and Ukraine.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is likely to decimate Ukraine's military production capabilities and its ramifications will also fall on China, Ukraine's top arms customer and Russia's vital ally, according to an analysis. China is Ukraine's top arms customer and Ukraine had everything China required to preserve and modernise its vast inventory of Russian weapons systems. However, in the aftermath of Russia's heavy bombardment of the European country the resources of Ukraine are likely to be decimated, according to Di Valerio Fabbri, writing in Geopolitica.info.

Global food prices jumped to a new record high of nearly 13 per cent in March as the war caused turmoil in markets for staple grains and edible oils, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) published on April 8 said.

Cuban envoy to India Alejandro Simancas Marin on Monday said the situation in Ukraine needs to be looked at in light of the threat created by the expansion of NATO, even as he stressed on the importance of peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue. Interacting with journalists at the Press Club of India here, he said the Cuban position is one of defending international law.

A Polish government special commission has reinforced its earlier allegations that the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in Russia was the result of Moscow's assassination plan. The latest of the commission's reports, released Monday, alleges that an intentional detonation of planted explosives caused the April 10, 2010 crash of Soviet-made Tu-154M plane that killed Kaczynski, the first lady and 94 other government and armed forces figures as well as many prominent Poles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged South Korea on Monday to provide his country with arms to help it fight Russia's military. Zelenskyy made the request in a video address to South Korean lawmakers that came hours after Seoul's Defense Ministry confirmed it had rejected a Ukrainian request for anti-aircraft weapons during a call between the countries' defense ministers last week.
The ministry cited the South Korean government's principle of limiting its military help to Ukraine to non-lethal supplies.

Russia said Monday that it destroyed air defense systems in Ukraine over the weekend, in what appeared to be a renewed push to gain air superiority and take out weapons Kyiv has described as crucial ahead of a broad new offensive in the east. Moscow's initial invasion stalled on several fronts as it met with stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces, who prevented the Russians from taking the capital and other cities.

Ukraine's economy will shrink by 45.1 per cent this year because of Russia's invasion, which has shut down half of the country's businesses, choked off imports and exports, and damaged a vast amount of critical infrastructure, the World Bank has said. Unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies in response to the war, meanwhile, are plunging Russia into a deep recession, lopping off more than a tenth of its economic growth, said the World Bank report on Sunday.

A showdown looms in Ukraine as Russia appointed a new military commander and looked to concentrate its attacks on the eastern part of the country, while Ukraine's president said his troops will hold their ground, and urged Western leaders, in particular President Joe Biden, to do more.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday in his nightly address to the nation that the coming week would be as crucial as any during the war, saying “Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state."

The Russian military on Monday said it had destroyed a shipment of air defence missile systems provided by the West. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Maj.Gen.Igor Konashenkov said the military used sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles to destroy four S-300 air defence missile launchers on the southern outskirts of the city of Dnipro.

Beneath the ancient beech forests of the Carpathian Mountains, a quiet monastery in the western Ukrainian village of Hoshiv has transformed itself into a giant playground for a dozen children who have been displaced by the war with their families.

Nuns at the Greek Catholic Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family, 100 kilometres from Lviv, have granted refuge to some 40 people fleeing fighting with Russian forces in eastern and central Ukraine.

The sound of birdsong and the gentle drone of prayers are a relief for 59-year-old Ryma Stryzhko, who fled from Kharkiv.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that more than 4.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its ongoing war on February 24.

As of Sunday, the UNHCR said there were 4,503,954 Ukrainian refugees, 62,291 more than the previous day, the BBC reported.

According to the UN agency, this is the first time for Europe to witness such a large number of refugees since the Second World War.

The UNHCR said that 90 per cent of those who have fled are women and children, as most men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave Ukraine as they must stay and join the country's forces.

The number of civilians killed in the Russian missile strike on a train station in Ukraine's Kramatorsk has increased to 57, with 109 people injured, a top official announced.

Addressing the media on Sunday, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the military head in Donetsk region where Kramatorsk is located, confirmed the new toll and said that "people with light injuries were sent home. All the seriously wounded are already in a safe region, and necessary assistance is being provided", Ukrayinska Pravda reported.

The World Bank expects the Ukrainian economy to shrink by 45.1 per cent this year as a result of the Russian military operation, while Russia will see its economy contract by 11.2 per cent in the same period.

Ukraine's president warned his nation Sunday night that the coming week would be as crucial as any in the war.

"Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.
He accused Russia of trying to evade responsibility for war crimes.

"When people lack the courage to admit their mistakes, apologize, adapt to reality and learn, they turn into monsters. And when the world ignores it, the monsters decide that it is the world that has to adapt to them. Ukraine will stop all this," Zelenskyy said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is providing investigative support to efforts to document war crimes in Ukraine, and he said Russian President Vladimir Putin is responsible

As Ukrainian forces dug in, Russia lined up more firepower and tapped a decorated general to take centralized control of the war ahead of a potentially decisive showdown in eastern Ukraine that could start within days.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday in his nightly address to the nation that the coming week would be as crucial as any in the war, saying “Russian troops will move to even larger operations in the east of our state.”

He also accused Russia of trying to evade responsibility for war crimes in Ukraine.

Russia has tapped a new Ukraine war commander to take centralized control of the next phase of battle after its costly failures in the opening campaign and carnage for Ukrainian civilians. US officials don't see one man making a difference in Moscow's prospects.

Russia turned to Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, 60, one of Russia's most experienced military officers and — according to US officials — a general with a record of brutality against civilians in Syria and other war theaters. Up to now, Russia had no central war commander on the ground.

The general's appointment was confirmed by a senior US official who not authorised to be identified and spoke on condition of anonymity.

But the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said, “no appointment of any general can erase the fact that Russia has already faced a strategic failure in Ukraine.”