At least 35 people were killed and over 100 were estimated to be wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a railway station in eastern Ukraine on Friday as civilians tried to evacuate to safer parts of the country, the state railway company said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces regained control of the entire northeast region of Sumy along the border with Russia, its governor said. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time [GMT+2].
11:58 am: Ukraine prepares for a Russian assault on the Donbas
Russia is currently redeploying its troops to eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainians are anticipating the heaviest assault yet. The situation is static for the moment but it is expected that the Russians will have deployed sufficiently to launch an intense attack in about a week. FRANCE 24’s Rob Parson reports.
11:29 am: Zelensky says Russia displays ‘evil with no limits’ in railway attack
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described a Russian rocket attack on a train station in eastern Ukraine, which killed at least 35 people, as “evil with no limits”.
“They are cynically destroying the civilian population. This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media after the strikes on a hub that has been used by many civilians in recent days to flee an anticipated Russian advance.
11:13 am: EU adopts new sanctions against Russia including coal import ban
The European Union on Friday formally adopted its fifth package of sanctions against Russia, including bans on the import of coal, wood, chemicals and other products.
The measures also prevent many Russian vessels and trucks from accessing the EU, further crippling trade, and will ban all transactions with four Russian banks, including VTB.
10:41 am: At least 30 evacuees killed in Russian rocket strike on train station, rail company says
At least 30 people were killed and over 100 were wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a railway station in eastern Ukraine on Friday as civilians tried to evacuate to safer parts of the country, the state railway company said.
It said two Russian rockets had struck a station in the city of Kramatorsk, which is being used for the evacuation of civilians from areas under bombardment by Russian forces.
“Two rockets hit Kramatorsk railway station,” Ukrainian Railways said in a statement. It later added: “According to operational data, more than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in the rocket attack on Kramatorsk railway station.”
Reuters could not verify the information. Russia did not immediately comment on the reports of the attack and the casualty toll. Moscow has denied targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on February 24.
9:33 am: Ukrainian forces control Sumy region bordering Russia
Ukrainian forces are in control of the entire northeast region of Sumy along the border with Russia, its governor said Friday, warning residents against returning while it was being cleared of mines.
“The area is free of orcs,” Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said on social media, referring to invading Russian troops. “The region is not safe. There are many areas that have been mined and are still not cleared,” he said.
9:23 am: Ukrainian negotiator says Bucha deaths affect mood at talks with Russia
Ukraine and Russia are “constantly” holding peace talks online but the mood has been affected by events including the deaths of civilians in the town of Bucha, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said in televised comments on Friday.
Ukrainian officials accuse Russian troops of carrying out extra-judicial killings in Bucha, outside Kyiv. Moscow denies targeting civilians in Ukraine and has said the deaths in Bucha were a “monstrous forgery” staged by the West to discredit it.
9:09 am: Ukrainian defences holding in Luhansk region
The governor of Ukraine’s eastern region of Luhansk said on Friday Russia was accumulating forces in eastern Ukraine but had not broken through Ukrainian defences.
Russian precious metals producer Polymetal International Plc said on Friday its auditor Deloitte LLP has resigned, as the auditing firm decided to stop its operations in Russia and Belarus in the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis.
Polymetal said Deloitte took the decision as the firm would not be able to carry out an audit of a company whose majority of assets and operations are in Russia.
For many Russians, the biggest impact of western sanctions so far has been the rise in prices. Our colleagues at France 3 report from Zvenigorod, west of Moscow:
7:50 am: Ukrainian President Zelensky to meet EU’s von der Leyen on Friday
In a show of support, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Kyiv on Friday with the bloc’s diplomatic chief Josep Borrell for talks with Zelensky.
The prospects for peace talks, meanwhile, appeared to fade further as Russia accused Ukraine of shifting its position from earlier discussions in Istanbul.
Ukrainian residential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak warned Moscow to “lower the degree of hostility” if it was interested in peace.
FRANCE 24’s correspondent Dave Keating, reports from Brussels.
6:27 am: UK says Russian forces have fully withdrawn from northern Ukraine
Russian forces have now fully withdrawn from northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia, British military intelligence said on Friday.
At least some of these Russian forces will be transferred to East Ukraine to fight in the Donbas, the Ministry of Defence said on Twitter. The forces will require replenishment before being deployed further east, with any mass redeployment from the north likely to take at least a week, the ministry added.
The ministry said Russian shelling of cities in the east and south continues and Russian forces have advanced further south from the city of Izium, which remains under their control.
6:12 am: Volunteers aid evacuation effort in eastern Ukraine
Severodonetsk, in eastern Ukraine, is the city furthest to the country’s east that is still under Ukrainian control. Our colleagues at France 2 met Alexei Paveliev, a former taxi driver who is volunteering to evacuate civilians as the city comes under heavy fire from Russian forces:
4:32 am: Pentagon says Putin has given up on taking Kyiv but ‘significant battle’ still ahead for southeastern Ukraine
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has given up on conquering Kyiv after his forces were soundly beaten back by the Ukrainian military.
“Putin thought that he could very rapidly take over the country of Ukraine, very rapidly capture this capital city. He was wrong,” Austin told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in Congress.
“I think Putin has given up on his efforts to capture the capital city and is now focused on the south and east of the country,” said Austin.
But the path of the overall war, six weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, remains uncertain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, told the same hearing.
For Ukraine to “win” the fight, it needs to remain a free and independent nation, with its recognised territory intact, he said.
“That’s going to be very difficult. That’s going to be a long slog,” Milley said.
“The first part of it has probably been successfully waged,” he said of the war that began on February 24.
“But there is a significant battle yet ahead down in the south-east, down around the Donbas region where the Russians intend to mass forces and continue their assault,” he said.
“So I think it’s an open question right now, how this ends.”
2:12 am: Lviv sees new refugee influx as Ukraine warns civilians to flee Donbas
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urged civilians in eastern Ukraine to evacuate to safer regions before it was too late, after Moscow announced plans to concentrate its forces in the east.
As a result, aid organisations in the western city of Lviv are welcoming a new wave of refugees. FRANCE 24 Chief International Affairs Editor Robert Parsons reports on the ground:
