Last updated: 3 hours ago
image source,Archyde.com
Russian forces take almost full control of Mariupol
The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, here are some of the latest developments on April 18:
- Russians continue to shell Ukrainian cities, including Lviv in the west
- Lviv local official said seven people were killed after Russian rockets attacked military facilities and car repair points
- Explosion in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv
- The northern city of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, near the southern port of Odessa, were also attacked
- In the besieged southern town of Mariupol, Ukrainian troops ignore Russia’s ultimatum to surrender
- Mariupol local officials said that the Russian army began to issue “passes” to local people, and they were not allowed to go to the streets or go to other urban areas without a pass.
- Ukrainian authorities asked residents of the eastern city of Luganshik to evacuate immediately, saying it was their “last chance” to get out safely
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he invited French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Ukraine to see with his own eyes the “massacre” of the Russian army
- More than 4.9 million Ukrainians have fled to foreign countries since war broke out, UN says
- Putin says Western sanctions are ‘self-defeating’
- Russia accuses Ukraine of changing stance on issues agreed in previous peace talks
- Videos and photos purportedly showing the sinking of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva have been posted online
image source,Archyde.com
More coverage of the war in Ukraine from the BBC in Chinese:
Putin: Western sanctions are ‘self-defeating’
image source,Archyde.com
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Western countries’ imposition of sanctions on Russia was “self-defeating”. This, he said, has led to a “deterioration of the Western economy”.
According to Archyde.com, Putin said that inflation is stabilizing and retail demand has normalized when referring to Russia’s domestic economic situation.
Western countries have imposed tough sanctions on Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier, Putin told senior government officials via video that Russia should use its budget to support the economy and liquidity amid a contraction in credit activity, despite the reduction in the cost of credit as a result of central bank interest rate cuts.
The Mariupol Ukrainian Army Continues to Resist
image source,ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES
Ukraine insists Ukrainian troops are still holding in the ruins of Mariupol
Ukraine rejects Russian ultimatum for Mariupol defenders to lay down their weapons.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Dnys Shmyhal said in an interview with US media ABC that the Ukrainian defenders will “fight to the end”.
The soldiers of the “Azov Brigade” continued to stand firm at the huge Azov steel plant, and the Russian army said it would open up a safe passage for surrendering officers and soldiers.
The full occupation of Mariupol would be seen as a major strategic victory for the Russian army. BBC Chinese has previously made the following detailed analysis:
In pictures: After Lviv was hit by missiles
The relatively peaceful city of Lviv in western Ukraine has been attacked by Russian missiles since the outbreak of the war, killing seven people. Here are some live pictures:
image source,Archyde.com
Lviv: Ukrainian firefighters search through rubble of building hit by missile
image source,Archyde.com
Lviv hit by missile early in the morning, smoke visible on skyline
image source,Getty Images
Some buildings in Lviv suburb badly damaged
image source,Getty Images
Firefighters put out fire outside a hit civilian building
Nearly 5 million Ukrainians flee their homeland – UN
The United Nations says more than 4.9 million Ukrainians have fled to foreign countries since the war broke out.
AFP quoted the UN refugee agency UNHCR as saying 4,934,415 Ukrainians – mostly women and children – had fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24.
Nearly 215,000 third-country citizens – mostly students and migrant workers – have also fled to neighbouring countries, the UN’s International Organization for Migration said.
This means that more than 5 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the war, constituting one of the fastest and largest humanitarian crises in the displacement of civilians.
No humane corridors for two days in a row
image source,Archyde.com
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukrainian and Russian officials failed to agree on a humanitarian corridor and that there would be no evacuation of civilians from war zones today.
This is the second day in a row that no humanitarian corridor has been opened.
“For security reasons, it has been decided that there will be no humane corridors today,” Vereshuk said in a Telegram post.
She accused the Russian army of obstructing and shelling the evacuation channel. “The Russian occupiers have violated international humanitarian law and have not stopped blocking and shelling humanitarian passages,” she said.
Pope’s Easter Peace Appeal
In his Easter message, Pope Francis urged the world to listen to the Ukrainian people’s prayer for peace.
The Pope also condemned the violence and destruction caused by the Russian invasion in his address to the tens of thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
Several Ukrainian officials were also present, including Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who was captured by Russian forces last month and freed after a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine.
Long queue of trucks on EU-Belarus border
image source,Archyde.com
Polish customs officials process trucks through border crossing despite past deadline
A long line of Russian and Belarusian trucks trying to leave the European Union has formed on the border between eastern Poland and Belarus.
Under EU sanctions on Russia, from midnight (22:00 GMT) on Saturday, vans from Russia and Belarus were banned from entering or staying in the EU unless they were carrying medicines, mail or gasoline.
The long queue of Russian and Belarusian trucks hoping to leave the European Union before the sanctions take effect stretched 80 kilometers at one point.
After the deadline has passed, a large number of trucks are still waiting at the Polish border, and Polish customs officials continue to process the border crossing.