Russia conducted the first test launch of its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new and long-awaited addition to its nuclear arsenal.
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The United States Army (USA) has begun training a small number of Ukrainian soldiers in the use of howitzer artillery, a senior US defense official said, adding that the training is being conducted outside Ukraine and will last about a week.
"It is a small number of Ukrainians, a little more than 50," said the official, who wished to remain anonymous, reports Reuters.
Last Sunday, US President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, expanding aid to heavy artillery ahead of a wider Russian offensive expected in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine's deputy prime minister said that the agreed humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol did not work as planned, blaming Russian forces for not maintaining a ceasefire.
Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk also said that Russian-organized buses failed to deliver the evacuees on time to the point where Ukrainian buses and ambulances were waiting.
Ukrainian officials estimate that around 1.000 civilians are hiding under the massive Azovstal steel plant, which is Ukraine's last stronghold in the southeastern port city of Mariupol.
Fewer buses than planned managed to reach civilians in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol and fewer people were evacuated, the regional governor said.
Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kirilenko was speaking after the mayor of Mariupol said this morning that he hoped 90 buses would be able to enter the city and take out some 6.000 trapped women, children and elderly people.
"Of course, people gathered at the agreed meeting points, but few of them entered the buses," he said, without giving figures.
Dozens of civilians boarded a small convoy of buses in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which then left a planned evacuation point for Ukrainian-controlled territory, two Reuters witnesses said.
Mariupol city authorities said earlier today they hoped to evacuate around 6.000 people under a preliminary agreement with Russia - the first in weeks - to establish a safe corridor.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had not seen or heard of a document the Kremlin said it had sent to Ukraine regarding peace talks.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was waiting for a response after handing over the document to the Ukrainian side.
A Russian ultimatum to Ukrainian troops in Mariupol to surrender or die expired this afternoon without a mass capitulation, but the commander of a unit believed to be holding out in the besieged city said his forces could survive only days or hours.
The United Nations announced today that the number of refugees who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24 has exceeded five million. More than half are children.
Ukraine has said it has so far held back an onslaught of thousands of Russian troops trying to advance in what Ukrainian officials call the Battle of the Donbass, a new campaign to capture two eastern provinces claimed by Moscow on behalf of the separatists.
In the video, the commander of Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, one of the last units believed to be holding out in Mariupol, asked for international help to escape the siege of the city.
"This is our appeal to the world. It may be our last. We may only have a few days or hours left," Major Sergei Volina said in a video posted on Facebook.
"The enemy units are tens of times bigger than ours, they have supremacy in the air, in artillery, in ground troops, in equipment and in tanks".
Russia said today it had tested its new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a strategic weapon that President Vladimir Putin said had no analogues elsewhere and would give food for thought to those trying to threaten Russia.
Putin was shown on TV being informed by the military that the missile had been launched from Plesetsk in the northwest of the country and had hit targets on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east.
Germany will stop importing oil from Russia by the end of the year, German Foreign Minister Analena Berbock said after a meeting with her Baltic colleagues.
"That's why I say here clearly and unequivocally that Germany is also completely shutting down the import of Russian energy," Berbok said.
"We will halve oil by the summer and be at 0 by the end of the year, and then gas will follow, in the common European road map," Berbok said.
Over a million Ukrainians have returned to their country, from which they fled earlier due to the Russian invasion, the border forces of this country announced, as reported by France Presse.
Ukrainian troops have stopped the advance of Russian forces from the city of Izyum in the northeast of the country to nearby Slavyansk, said Alexey Arestovich, adviser to the Ukrainian president, Reuters reports.
"They have focused their forces there, they are trying to advance there, but so far they are not succeeding," he said in a video address.
Arestovich also said Ukrainian forces in the besieged city of Mariupol were holding on, despite persistent Russian attacks on the Azovstal steel plant.
During the night, Russian forces hit 1.053 Ukrainian military facilities, the Ministry of Defense of this country announced, as reported by Reuters.
The German manufacturer of cosmetics, household and industrial chemicals Henkel has announced that it is suspending its business activities in Russia.
"Given the current development of the war in Ukraine, Henkel has decided to give up its business activities in Russia," the announcement states, adding that the company is working to make the shutdown process orderly.
Henkel's 2,5 thousand workers will continue to be employed and will receive salaries while the preparations for the process of shutting down business activities continue, reports Nezavisne Novine.
The announcement adds that at this moment it is not possible to determine the extent of the financial consequences that the planned departure from Russia will cause.
"Henkel condemns Russia's war against Ukraine and the violence against innocent civilians. Our priority remains to do everything we can to support our colleagues in Ukraine," the statement said.
The company, as it is added, provides great support to employees and people in Ukraine with financial and material donations, as well as food.
Today, Ukraine reached a preliminary agreement with Russia on the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of women, children and the elderly from the besieged city of Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk said, Reuters reports.
"We managed to pre-arrange a humanitarian corridor for women, children and the elderly," she wrote on Facebook.
"Given the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Mariupol, today we will focus our efforts."
Local authorities say that thousands of people were killed in the siege of Mariupol and that the port city on the Sea of Azov was almost destroyed.
A previous agreement to create a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave Mariupol collapsed on March 5. Since then, repeated efforts to create a safe corridor have failed, with each side blaming the other.
Vereschuk said that the evacuation attempt will begin at 13 p.m. CET.
"Given the very difficult security situation, there may be changes during the operation. Therefore, please follow the relevant official messages," she said.
The Ukrainian side has announced that a corridor has been agreed upon for civilians to leave Marijupol today, France Press reports.
Many civilians are stuck in the besieged Azovstal factory, says the deputy mayor of Mariupol, BBC reports.
Russia has given Ukrainian troops in Mariupol a new deadline of 13 p.m. CET today to surrender, but Ukraine has vowed to continue defending the port city.
Russian-backed fighters are reportedly trying to storm the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian troops and civilians are said to be being held.
"I can confirm that there are many civilians," Sergei Orlov told the BBC.
"Mostly these are citizens from the nearest destroyed buildings and a lot of steel mill workers. They know that the steel mills had a good bomb shelter and some supplies of food and water in the shelter. That's why they and their families decided to live in this shelter. For those in the factory, there is currently no possible help, he says.
"They lack absolutely everything. Lack of water, food, medicine, aid, and Russia completely blocks everything, any humanitarian aid or evacuation," says Orlov.
"All these news about the possibility of leaving, leaving the territory of Mariupol or Azovstal are false."
Russia's main focus is still the southern port city of Mairupol, the Ukrainian military says, the BBC reports.
Its troops continue to attack the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian troops and civilians are reportedly being held.
The military also says:
-Russian forces continue their large-scale invasion of eastern Ukraine to establish full control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
- Russia continues to bomb civilian and military structures in the country.
-In Donetsk and Tavria, Russian troops continue shelling along the front lines, trying to find weak points in Ukrainian defenses.
-Russian troops are trying to launch a military operation in the Ukrainian village of Popasna in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine.
-After the attempt of the Russian forces to invade the localities of Rubizhne and Severodonjeck, around 130 wounded soldiers were transferred to the local hospital.
- The Ukrainian army repelled 10 attacks by Russian forces in Donetsk and Luhansk in the past 24 hours.
- 12 tanks, 28 armored vehicles and one artillery system were destroyed, and the Ukrainian Air Force hit nine targets - one plane, one helicopter, six drones and a cruise missile.
The BBC says it was unable to independently verify these claims.
Russia's military presence on Ukraine's eastern border continues to grow, according to today's British military report, Reuters reports.
It added that fighting in the Donbass region is intensifying as Russian forces seek to break through Ukrainian defenses.
"Russian air activity in northern Ukraine is likely to remain low since its withdrawal from north of Kiev. However, the risk of precision strikes against priority targets across Ukraine remains," the update, which was posted on Twitter, said.
"Russian attacks on cities across Ukraine show their intention to try to disrupt the movement of Ukrainian reinforcements and weapons to the east of the country," it added.
Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report.
The Kremlin's "holy war" against Ukraine
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In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that if Ukraine had access to better weapons "comparable to those used by Russia, we would have already ended this war," reports the BBC.
Zelensky said that "in all my interviews and negotiations with the leaders of the democratic world, it is unfair that Ukraine is still forced to seek what its partners have been keeping for years."
He said that if these countries have the weapons and ammunition that Ukraine needs, "it is their moral duty to help protect freedom, to save the lives of thousands of Ukrainians."
He further added that if his country receives the promised weapons in the coming weeks, it will save the lives of thousands of people.
Zelensky added that the intensity of Russian fire has increased in Kharkiv, Donbass and Dnipropetrovsk region, even on civilian structures.
"The fate of tens of thousands of residents of Mariupol who were relocated to territories under Russian control is unknown," Zelenski said.
This comes as Russia's defense ministry issued a fresh ultimatum to Ukrainian troops holed up in the besieged city of Mariupol to lay down their arms.
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