Ukraine: Red Cross teams head for Mariupol to start evacuations — live updates

The Red Cross has teams en route to Mariupol, but an aide to the mayor of the city said earlier it remained closed for anyone trying to enter and was "very dangerous" for anyone trying to leave.

China, aid group against ousting Russia from G20

China said on Friday that it doesn't support calls for expelling Russia from the G20 club of the world's major economies.

"All members are equal and no one has the power to divide the G20," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during talks with Retno Marsudi, the foreign minister of Indonesia, which is hosting the G20 summit this year in November.

Wang stressed that the gathering should not be "politicized," emphasizing that the G20 is focused on economic issues.

Mathias Mogge, the head of the German aid group Welthungerhilfe, also urged world leaders not to throw Russia out of the bloc, saying that it could slow efforts to tackle a worsening food crisis worldwide.

"Of course, Russia is the aggressor here, and there needs to be sanctions and everything. But in a humanitarian situation as we have it today, there must be open lines of communication," he said in an interview this week.

Red Cross en route to Mariupol

Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have set off for Mariupol. A spokesman told reporters the ICRC is "hopeful" that evacuations of thousands of civilians can begin on Friday.

"We have permission to move today and we are en route to Mariupol," ICRC spokesperson Ewan Watson said. "We are hopeful it (the safe passage operation) will commence today."

Dozens of busses that have been put together by Ukrainian authorities to take people out also have not started approaching the dividing line, he said. Ukraine said Russia had prevented buses from reaching the besieged city on Thursday.

However, the body did not receive permission to take humanitarian aid with the convoy, and it departed without any supplies, Watson added.

He called it an "extremely complex" operation, adding that "not all details are in place."

Russia 'appreciates' India's response to the Ukraine crisis

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is holding talks with senior Indian officials in New Delhi on the Ukraine war and ways to boost bilateral ties.

"We appreciate that India is taking this situation in the entirety of facts and not just in a one-sided way," Lavrov said in his opening remarks during a meeting with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

India has so far refused to condemn Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, calling only for a cessation of violence.

New Delhi also continues to buy Russian fossil fuels and other goods, frustrating the US and its allies, who have been trying to isolate and punish Moscow.

Mariupol remains 'closed' and 'very dangerous,' says mayor aide

Russian forces have been hindering evacuation efforts and preventing humanitarian supplies from reaching the besieged city, Petro Andryushchenko, an aide to the mayor of Mariupol, said on Friday.

The statement came despite an assurance from Russian Major General Mikhail Mizintsev that people would be able to leave.

"The city remains closed to entry and very dangerous to exit with personal transport," Andryushchenko said in a Telegram post. "In addition, since yesterday the occupiers have categorically not allowed any humanitarian aid — even in small quantities — into the city."

About 5,000 civilians have been killed in the city since the Russian invasion began, according to Ukrainian authorities. It's estimated that tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the city.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations said that they will make a renewed attempt on Friday to help the city's residents flee.

Fighting for Mariupol 'can go on for a long time'

Tens of thousands of people remain trapped in Mariupol with scant food, water and other supplies.

"Russia gave an ultimatum a while ago saying that the Ukrainian soldiers either had to give up or they would continue to pound the city," said DW correspondent Amien Essif, who is currently in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

"Russia has said very clearly that they will not continue to exacerbate this humanitarian crisis until Ukraine surrenders, perhaps hoping that the international community will see what's happening there and encourage Ukraine to surrender that city," he added.

Essif noted the strategic importance of the city for both sides as holding the city will allow them to control the Sea of Azov.

Stressing that it's very hard to know what's happening in that city, he underlined that the fighting "can go on for a long time."

"Either Russia wins a complete and total victory with the total destruction of the city and most of the civilian lives there or Ukrainians will pull off an unlikely victory and maintain control of that city, hopefully avoiding the worst."

UK says Ukraine has retaken two villages between Chernihiv and Kyiv

Ukrainian troops have retaken the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka to the south of Chernihiv and located along main supply routes between the city and Kyiv, British military intelligence said on Friday.

"Ukraine has also continued to make successful but limited counter attacks to the east and north east of Kyiv," the UK Defense Ministry said.

"Both Chernihiv and Kyiv have been subjected to continued air and missile strikes despite Russian claims of reducing activity in these areas," the ministry added.

Ukraine helicopters struck a fuel storage unit in Belgorod, Russian official claims
Two Ukrainian military helicopters struck a fuel storage facility in the Russian city of Belgorod on Friday, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

"There was a fire at the petrol depot because of an air strike carried out by two Ukrainian army helicopters, who entered Russian territory at a low altitude," he said.

Belgorod is located close to the Ukrainian border. The helicopters crossed the border at low altitude, Gladkov said, adding that the strike caused a blaze at the site injuring two workers and forcing authorities to evacuate some areas in the city.

There have been no deaths resulting from the incident, the governor said. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

The alleged strike comes just two days after the province was rocked by blasts at an arms depot.

Gladkov said this week that the arms depot explosions were believed to be a result of another fire, although he said the regional authorities were awaiting confirmation from the Russian Defence Ministry.

Russia pulls out of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear site

Russian troops left the heavily contaminated Chernobyl nuclear site on Friday after returning control to Ukraine.

Energoatom, Ukraine's state power company, said the pullout came after Russian soldiers suffered from "significant doses" of radiation after digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. The information, however, wasn't independently verified.

Officials in Kyiv also claimed that the Russians took an unspecified number of captive Ukrainian servicemen with them.

Russian troops had seized control of the Chernobyl site on February 24, the day when Moscow's invasion of Ukraine began.

Ukraine to receive 'super modern' equipment to protect skies — envoy to Japan

Ukraine's ambassador to Japan, Sergiy Korsunsky, said that Ukraine expects to receive enhanced military equipment from the United States and Britain that will give the country the ability to better protect its skies.

"They still have superiority in air force, in airplanes and missiles, and we expect to begin to receive super-modern equipment from the United States and Britain to protect our skies and our cities," Korsunsky said.

"When they fire cruise missiles from long distance, we cannot get to the launch place. We have to intercept them. That's why we need this modern equipment."

Australia to send more equipment to Ukraine

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that Australia will send armored Bushmaster vehicles to Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically asked for them.

Zelenskyy addressed the Australian Parliament on Thursday and requested the Australian-made, four-wheel-drive vehicles.

"We're not just sending our prayers, we are sending our guns, we're sending our munitions, we're sending our humanitarian aid, we're sending all of this, our body armor, all of these things and we're going to be sending our armored vehicles, our Bushmasters, as well," Morrison said.

Moscow threatens to cut off European gas supply

Countries could have their gas supply turned off after Moscow set a deadline for payments to be made in Russian currency.

"If such payments are not made, we will consider this a breach of obligations on the part of our buyers," Putin said. Russia would then halt existing contracts.

"The actions of the EU will not remain unanswered ... the irresponsible sanctions by Brussels are already negatively affecting the daily lives of ordinary Europeans," senior Russian foreign ministry official Nikolai Kobrinets told the state RIA news agency.

Germany has insisted that it will pay in euros or dollars as stipulated in the contracts, and called Moscow's demand to pay in rubles "blackmail." Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Germany imported 55% of its gas supplies from Russia.

France's economy minister said that Berlin and Paris were preparing for a scenario where Russia turns off gas taps.

Canada's Trudeau against Russian attendance of G20

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he opposes Russian Vladimir Putin's attendance of this year's G20 meeting.

The G20 is an international forum that consists of most of the world's largest economies.

Trudeau said he shared his view with Indonesian President Joko Widodo. The G20 summit is scheduled be held in November on the Indonesian island of Bali.

"Russia has with its illegal invasion of Ukraine upended economic growth for everyone around the world and can't possibly be a constructive partner in how we manage the crisis created by Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine," Trudeau said.

The US and Australia have also voiced support for kicking Russia out of the summit, whereas Brazil and China have said they oppose barring Putin from attending.

US official: Russian refocusing on Donbas could prolong war

Russia's refocusing of its efforts on Ukraine's eastern Donbas region could lead to a "longer, more prolonged conflict" in the country, a senior US defense official was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

"Just because [the Russians] are going to prioritize it and put more forces there or more energy there doesn't mean it's going to be easy for them," the official said. "It could be a harbinger of a longer, more prolonged conflict here as the Russians try to gain some leverage, gain some progress, and perhaps gain some chips at the bargaining table."

Fighting in the Donbas region started in 2014 as pro-Russian protests morphed into a separatist insurgency that established breakaway "people's republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia had previously denied public support for the insurgency for years, but it recognized the two self-proclaimed "people's republics" shortly before launching its full-scale invasion of the country a little over a month ago.

Ukrainian negotiators have said that they are willing to discuss the country's "neutrality" as part of a future peace deal with Moscow but that there would be no compromise on the country's "territorial integrity."

Last week, senior Russian military leader Sergey Rudskoy announced that the war was entering a new phase and that Russian troops would concentrate on taking Donbas. US intelligence said that some Russian troops were being repositioned away from Kyiv, although shelling of the area continued.

Ukraine's Zelenskyy: Situation in Donbas and southern Ukraine extremely difficult

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that the situation in the south of the country and the Donbas region in the east remained extremely difficult.

Zelenskyy said that Russia was building up forces around the besieged city of Mariupol. Mariupol has been a major focus of fighting for weeks as Russian forces attempt to take the Azov coast.

"There will be battles ahead. We still need to go down a very difficult path to get everything we want," Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy also said that he had fired two top officials at the national security service and accused them of betraying their oath to defend Ukraine.

"I do not have time to deal with all the traitors, but they will gradually all be punished," Zelenskyy said.

Summary of events in Russia's war in Ukraine on Thursday

See all the developments from Thursday's live updates by clicking here.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it was unclear if Russia's convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv "even exists" anymore after failing to accomplish its mission.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was informed by Ukraine that Russian forces have "in writing, transferred control" of the Chernobyl nuclear plant to Ukrainian authorities.

US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be self-isolating and may have sacked some of his advisers.

Biden also announced the largest-ever release of US emergency oil reserve in a bid to bring down gasoline prices.

The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against a series of Russian tech firms, including Russia's largest chip maker.

Moscow imposed entry bans on representatives of the European Union in response to Western sanctions.