In the Russian attacks with "cluster ammunition" today in Kramatorsk in the east of Ukraine, two people were killed and eight were injured, the city's mayor announced.
"Russia continues to reign in terror. Consequences of the bombardment of Kramatorsk with cluster munitions - two people were killed, eight were injured, three of whom are in serious condition," Mayor Alexander Goncharenko wrote on Facebook.
A dozen residential and 14 municipal buildings were damaged, Goncharenko added.
AFP reporters heard a dozen near-simultaneous explosions shortly before 16 p.m. local time and saw smoke rising from a park in the south of the city.
Soon after, ten more explosions of the same type were heard in a residential area about two kilometers from the first attack.
It is the second time this week that Kramatorsk has been targeted by Russian attacks. On Tuesday, one person was killed in the shelling, three were injured, while six residential buildings were damaged.
Kramatorsk is located near Bakhmut, a stronghold of months of fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
Russia has informed all parties that the agreement on grains exported via the Black Sea has been extended for 60 days and reiterated that it will not consider another extension until the reasons for its concerns are resolved.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova provided a copy of a letter from the Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, which states that Moscow will not object to extending the agreement by 60 days until May 18.
"The Russian side will consider a further extension after this date, only on the condition of tangible progress" on the issue of Russian food and fertilizer exports, the statement said, according to Reuters.
Russia said that although this export is not explicitly targeted by the West, sanctions for the Russian payment industry, logistics and insurance create barriers.
The agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian grain from the port on the Black Sea, which was supposed to expire today, has been renewed, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced, while the Ukrainian government minister said that an extension of 120 days had been agreed.
"The agreement on the grain corridor was supposed to expire today. As a result of our talks with the two sides, we have secured the extension of the agreement," Erdogan said in a speech in the western city of Canakkale.
Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Twitter that "the grain agreement has been extended for 120 days," reports Reuters.
"I am grateful to UN Secretary General António Guterres, Turkish President Erdogan, ministers and partners for adhering to the agreement," he added.
The United Nations and Turkey struck a pact with Russia and Ukraine in July, which was renewed for an additional 120 days in November - to combat a global food crisis fueled in part by Russia's blockade of the Black Sea.
Russia previously asked for the contract to be extended for only 60 days, which is half of the previous agreement, while Ukraine insisted on a 120-day renewal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea on the occasion of marking the ninth anniversary of the annexation of this peninsula to Russia from Ukraine, Russian state media reported, as reported by Reuters.
Russian forces carried out a series of attacks in the Kherson region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced this morning, stating that 57 rocket strikes were carried out from multiple rocket launchers (MLRS).
In the announcement, it was confirmed that seven houses in the village of Veletenske in the Kherson region were destroyed and that a nursery was damaged, but no one was injured, reports the London Guardian.
According to unconfirmed information reported by the London daily, ten Iranian-made Shahid drones were shot down, and Ukrainian forces "repelled more than 100 enemy attacks", reports Al Jazeera Balkans.
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The Russian mercenary Wagner Group plans to recruit around 30.000 new fighters by mid-May, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said.
According to Reuters, he said in an audio message on Telegram that Wagner's employment centers, which he said opened last Sunday in 42 Russian cities, employ an average of 500-800 people a day.
Russia shelled the village of New York in the Donetsk region, local governor Pavlo Kirilenko announced
As Kyiv Independent reports, residential and other buildings, as well as the road in the village, were damaged in the attack.
"There were no casualties," added Kirilenko.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it showed that "no one is above the law".
The ICC on Friday called for Putin's arrest on suspicion of illegally deporting children and illegally transferring people from Ukraine to Russia since Moscow launched an invasion of its neighbor last year, Reuters reports.
"The International Criminal Court is the right institution to investigate war crimes... The fact is that no one is above the law and that is what is now becoming clear," Scholz said at a joint press conference in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Fumiya Kishida.
Ukraine's air force said the country shot down 11 of 16 Shahed drones overnight.
"Ukrainian air defenses shot down 11 out of 16 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia at Ukraine," the Air Force stated, as reported by the Kyiv Independent.
During the night, Russia shelled several Ukrainian areas, including Zaporozhye and Sumy Oblast, the Kyiv Independent reported.
The same source states that the General Staff of Ukraine announced that the army of that country repelled more than 100 Russian attacks in five areas during the past 24 hours.
Three high-ranking US security officials spoke via video call with a group of Ukrainian colleagues about military aid to Kiev, said Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"We discussed the further provision of necessary assistance to our country, especially vehicles, weapons and ammunition," Jermak wrote on Telegram, as reported by Reuters.
He added that Zelensky joined the meeting at the end to express his views on the liberation of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.
The 388th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has begun. You can check what happened yesterday at the link below.
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