Russia pummels last Ukrainian defenders in port city Mariupol

Relentless Russian attacks pounded a giant steel plant in Mariupol – the last Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged port city – with a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin saying Russian forces would overcome the city’s remaining defenders on Thursday. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

11:18am: Kharkiv is under intense bombardment, mayor says

Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv was under intense bombardment on Thursday, its mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

"Huge blasts, the Russian Federation is furiously bombing the city," Terekhov said in a televised address.

He said that around 1 million people remain in the northeastern city, while about 30 percent of the population have evacuated, mainly women, children and the elderly.

11:18am: Italy should cut off Russian gas 'soon', minister says

Italy is ethically obliged to stop buying Russian gas "soon" as the payments are funding the Ukraine war, the country's Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani said in an interview Thursday.

"I think that we will have to stop supplies of gas from Russia soon for ethical reasons," he told La Stampa newspaper.

The minister is currently on a two-day trip to Angola and Congo Republic seeking energy deals as Italy scrambles to reduce its dependency on Russia, which provides about 45 percent of Italian gas. "We are diversifying our sources with great speed," he said.

9:43am: Putin hails so-called 'liberation' of Mariupol

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed Russia's "liberation" of Mariupol after Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told him Moscow controlled the Ukrainian port city apart from the Azovstal steel plant.

"Block off this industrial area so that not even a fly can escape," Putin said in a televised meeting, adding it would be "impractical" to storm the huge industrial area, where more than 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen remain according to Shoigu.

9:42am: Putin cancels Russian plans to storm Mariupol steel plant, opts for blockade instead

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered the Russian military to cancel plans to storm the Azovstal plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and said he wanted it to continue to be hermetically blockaded instead.

Putin gave the order to Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, who had previously told Putin that more than 2,000 Ukrainian fighters were still holed up in the vast plant, which has a large underground component to it.

"I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary," Putin told Shoigu in a televised meeting at the Kremlin. "I order you to cancel it."

Putin said his decision not to storm the Azovstal plant was motivated by the desire to safeguard the lives of Russian soldiers.

9:40am: Troops defending battered Mariupol plead for outside help

Besieged Ukrainian troops defending Mariupol called desperately for outside help Wednesday, warning the strategic port could fall within hours as Russia demanded they surrender and the latest civilian evacuation bid failed.

Raising tensions, Russia meanwhile said it had tested a new nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile. The United States said it had been notified and the test was not deemed a threat.

In the latest ultimatum issued in its battle to capture Mariupol after a two-month siege, Moscow made another call for the city's defenders to surrender by 1100 GMT.

8:58am: Ukraine says nine bodies found outside Kyiv, some 'with signs of torture'

The bodies of nine civilians, some showing signs of torture, have been found in the town of Borodyanka outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, a senior police official said.

"These people were killed by the occupiers and some show signs of torture. I want to emphasise that these people were civilians. The Russian military knowingly shot civilians who did not put up any resistance," the head of the police in the Kyiv region said overnight Wednesday to Thursday.

8:57am: Spanish, Danish PMs visit Kyiv

The Spanish and Danish Prime Ministers Pedro Sanchez and Mette Frederiksen will visit the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday to support the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, their respective offices said.

Sanchez already arrived in Kyiv, his office said in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether Denmark's Prime Minister Frederiksen had arrived yet.

The parties would discuss further support for the Ukrainians and the prosecution of "war crimes and human rights violations", the Danish Prime Ministry said in a statement.

8:56am: Forthcoming US aid will be 'more specific' to war's new phase

US President Joe Biden is expected to unveil an $800 million military assistance package for Ukraine on Thursday, noted FRANCE 24's Kethevane Gorjestani, "a package that will likely see more artillery; more weapons that are more specific to this new part of the war in Ukraine, this new offensive by the Russians in eastern Ukraine."

8:55am: 'Not much movement on the ground'

Russia's offensive in the east "seems to still be taking the form mainly of artillery barrages, strikes all along the frontline – particularly in the Donbas but not only in the Donbas, because the southern city of Mykolaiv for example is still being targeted," FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reported from Kyiv.

"Some infrastructure belonging to the local state TV channel there was hit," Cragg continued. "But there's not been much movement on the ground. The Russian forces perhaps haven't really yet launched their full-scale ground offensive to take this territory. Or else, if they've tried to launch it, they haven't had much success."

8:52am: Ukraine says four buses carrying evacuees have left Mariupol

Four buses carrying evacuees from Mariupol have left the besieged and destroyed port city where Ukrainian forces are battling to retain control, the government said on Thursday.

"Four evacuation buses managed to leave the city yesterday through the humanitarian corridor," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on social media, adding that evacuations of women, children and the elderly would continue Thursday. "The security situation is difficult. Things may change," she added.

7:33am: UK's Johnson arrives in India for hard sell on anti-Russia action

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in India on Thursday touting job-creating investment but facing long odds to get his reluctant counterpart Narendra Modi to back Western action against Russia.

India has refused openly to condemn the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine, reliant as it is on Russian imports of energy, agricultural goods and military hardware.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss came away from New Delhi empty-handed last month when she pressed the Indians to do more against Russia, and Modi has also given short shrift to appeals from US President Joe Biden.

Johnson's spokesman told reporters that Ukraine would feature in summit talks on Friday. He said the intention was not to "lecture" Modi but to "broaden the (Western) coalition".

7:32am: Russian forces advancing from staging areas in Donbas towards Kramatorsk, UK military says

Russian forces are advancing from staging areas in Donbas towards Kramatorsk, which continues to be hit by rocket attacks, a British military update said on Thursday.

High levels of Russian air activity continue as it seeks to provide close air support to its offensive in eastern Ukraine, and to suppress and destroy Ukrainian air defence capabilities, the British Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin.

"Russia likely desires to demonstrate significant successes ahead of their annual 9th May Victory Day celebrations. This could affect how quickly and forcefully they attempt to conduct operations in the run-up to this date," the tweet added.

7:02am: Chechnya's Kadyrov says Russia will capture Mariupol on Thursday

A top ally of President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces will seize the last main stronghold of resistance in the besieged city of Mariupol on Thursday, after Ukraine proposed talks on evacuating troops and civilians there.

Mariupol would be the biggest city to be seized by Russia since it invaded Ukraine eight weeks ago in an attack that has taken longer than some military analysts expected, seen over five million people flee abroad and turned cities to rubble.

"Before lunchtime, or after lunch, Azovstal will be completely under the control of the forces of the Russian Federation," Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Russia's north Caucasian republic of Chechnya, whose forces have been fighting in Ukraine, said of the steel plant.

7am: Biden to speak on Ukraine war amid expectation of new military aid

US President Joe Biden will deliver an update on the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Thursday as he works to complete a new arms package for its military.

Biden is to address Americans from the White House Roosevelt Room at 9.45 a.m. (1345 GMT) and a source familiar with the planning said he is "expected to provide an update on our efforts to support Ukraine and the assistance we are providing.”

The new arms package was likely to be roughly the same size as an $800 million one announced last week but details were still being worked out, another US official told Reuters earlier.

3:27am: Red Cross denies Kyiv’s accusation of working ‘in concert’ with Moscow

A senior Kyiv official on Wednesday accused the International Committee of the Red Cross of working “in concert” with Russia in Ukraine, a charge the organisation denied.

Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova decried ICRC’s announcement last month that it was planning to open a branch in Russia’s southern Rostov region to help Ukrainian refugees, who, Kyiv says, have been forcibly deported to Russia.

“The International Red Cross is not fulfilling its mandate, I am certain of that,” Denisova said on Ukrainian television Wednesday after meeting with the head of the ICRC’s Ukrainian branch.

Citing data from the United Nations, Denisova said that some 550,000 Ukrainians, including 121,000 children, have been taken to Russia during the course of the war, but Kyiv has no information on who these people are and where they are being kept.

“Where are they? In filtration camps? In temporary facilities?” Denisova asked.

The official said she had asked both her Russian counterpart Tatyana Moskalkova and the ICRC for help in getting information on these refugees so that Ukraine could facilitate their return home, but had received “zero answer from her or from the Red Cross”.

Asked by the TV anchor whether Denisova suspected that the Red Cross was working “in concert” with Russia, Denisova replied: “Yes, I suspect they are.”

The ICRC strongly rejected Kyiv’s accusations.

“The ICRC does not ever help organize or carry out forced evacuations. We would not support any operation that would go against people’s will and international law,” the organisation said in a statement to AFP.

It added: “Building and maintaining a dialogue with parties to a conflict is essential to get access to all people affected and obtain necessary security guarantees for our teams to deliver life-saving aid.”

2:12am: G7 finance ministers pledge more than $24 billion to Ukraine

G7 finance ministers said they have provided and pledged together with international community additional support to Ukraine exceeding $24 billion for 2022 and beyond, adding that they were prepared to do more as needed.

In a statement, the ministers said they regretted Russia’s participation in international forums, including G20, International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this week.

“International organisations and multilateral fora should no longer conduct their activities with Russia in a business-as-usual manner,” the ministers said.

12:42am: US, allies warn of renewed cyberattack threat, citing ‘evolving intelligence’

Five allied countries including the United States warned Wednesday that “evolving intelligence” indicated Russia was poised to launch powerful cyberattacks against rivals supporting Ukraine.

The members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing network – the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – said Moscow could also involve existing cybercrime groups in launching attacks on governments, institutions and businesses.

“Evolving intelligence indicates that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks,” they said in an official cyber threat alert.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could expose organizations both within and beyond the region to increased malicious cyber activity. This activity may occur as a response to the unprecedented economic costs imposed on Russia as well as materiel support provided by the United States and US allies and partners,” it said.

In addition, it said, “some cybercrime groups have recently publicly pledged support for the Russian government”.

“Some groups have also threatened to conduct cyber operations against countries and organizations providing material support to Ukraine,” it said.