Turkey says three grain ships will leave Ukraine on Friday

After the Sierra Leone-registered Razoni departed on Monday, Turkey has plans for three more grain ships to leave Ukraine on Friday.French officials said the Russian invasion of Ukraine began more than five months ago. It has hosted 100,000 Ukrainian refugees since then, it said on Thursday. Read on as the events of the day unfold. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

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2:16am: Ukraine says forced to cede some territory in the east

Ukraine has said it has been forced to cede some territory in the eastern part of the country in the face of Russian aggression, and the head of the NATO military alliance said Moscow should not be allowed to win the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week described the pressure his troops were under in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region as “hell.” He spoke of heavy fighting around the town of Avdiuka and the fortified village of Pisky, in which Kyiv recently acknowledged “partial success” for its Russian enemies.

12:29am: Canada to send military trainers to UK to teach Ukrainian forces

Canada is sending military trainers to Britain to teach Ukrainians how to fight invading Russian forces, Defense Minister Anita Anand said Wednesday.

Up to 225 members of the Canadian military will eventually be based in the UK for the first four months, Anand said. They will work with their British, Dutch and New Zealand counterparts to train the Ukrainian military on the basics of soldiering.

“This is an all-out moment for allies and partners supporting Ukraine,” Anand said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

A former Canadian military training mission based in Ukraine was suspended just weeks before the invasion began.

11:38 p.m.: Zelensky accuses Amnesty of making excuses for Russia’s ‘terrorist state’

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky Amnesty International has accused Russia of allowing “terrorist” acts after human rights groups said Kyiv’s military were endangering civilians by setting up bases in residential areas.

“There are no conditions that justify a Russian attack on Ukraine, even hypothetically. The aggression against our country is gratuitous, aggressive and terrorist,” he added.

8:55pm: EU imposes sanctions on former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych

EU member states on Thursday imposed sanctions on expelled pro-Russian ex-president of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych and son Oleksandr allegedly played a role in threatening Ukraine’s security.

The European Council said in a statement that the two were added to the existing EU sanctions list set “in response to Russia’s continued unjustified and provocative military attacks on Ukraine”.

7:53pm: Turkey announces plans for three grain ships to leave Ukraine on Friday

Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said three ships planned to sail from Ukrainian ports on Friday under a deal to lift the blockade on the country’s grain exports.

Akar also said the empty vessel was expected to head to Ukraine after being inspected in Istanbul. Akar met with Ukraine’s defense and infrastructure ministers to discuss the situation regarding grain deliveries, the statement said.

3:52pm: Ukraine condemns findings of Amnesty report on armed forces in civilian areas

Ukraine’s foreign minister on Thursday criticized an Amnesty International report as “unfair”, alleging that Kyiv endangered civilians by stationing troops in residential areas as it fought a Russian aggression.

In a report released Thursday, Amnesty International said its researchers found civilians in Russia’s attacks by having Ukrainian forces based in schools, residential buildings, and elsewhere in populated areas. He said he discovered that he had exposed people.

Amnesty International also said it found Ukrainian forces using hospitals as military bases in five locations that human rights groups called “clear violations of international humanitarian law”.

“This action of Amnesty International is not about finding out the truth and reporting it to the world, but instead of finding and reporting the truth to the world, and to the hundreds and thousands of civilians, cities, territories, and countries desperately defending themselves. That’s right,” Dmitro Kleva said in a video posted on Facebook.

1:30pm: Zelensky says Schroeder’s comments about ‘negotiated solution’ with Russia are ‘disgusting’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, referring to former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s remarks that Russia wants a “negotiated solution” to the war, said it was “disgusting” for a former European leader to work for Russia. I feel,” he said.

The leader of the war-torn country said in his daily speech on Wednesday after Schroeder announced an interview with German media calling for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin: “The good news is that The Kremlin wants a negotiated solution,” the 78-year-old Angela Merkel’s immediate predecessor was quoted as saying after confirming he met Putin in Moscow last week. asked Berlin to reconsider its position on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

In a video speech, Mr Zelensky said: “It is simply disgusting that a former leader of a powerful country with European values ​​works for a Russia that is fighting against these values.” said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to great public pressure in Germany to force Schroeder to turn against Putin and cut ties with Russia’s energy giants. Schroeder was chairman of the board of Russian oil giant Rosneft.

1:30 p.m.: Eight killed in Russian shelling at a bus station in eastern Ukraine

Russian troops shelled a bus stop in the front-line eastern Ukraine town of Tretsk on Thursday, killing eight people and wounding four, the regional governor said. “According to preliminary information, there was artillery fire.

10:49 France welcomes 100,000 Ukrainian refugees

France has hosted 100,000 Ukrainian refugees since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began more than five months ago, Didier Leski, head of the French immigration agency (Ofii), told AFP on Thursday.

Leschi confirmed information published in the French daily Le Figaro and said the “threshold of 100,000” for people displaced by the conflict in Ukraine had been “crossed” since Wednesday evening. .

9:08am: UN nuclear watchdog appeals for access to Ukraine’s Zaporizhia power plant

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog appealed for access to Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is now controlled by the Russian military, to determine if it is a source of danger.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, told the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger that contacts with Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, run by Ukrainian engineers, were “weak” and communications He said it wasn’t working every day.

“We cannot afford to miscommunicate with the power plant in areas related to safety. said in an interview published in “Frankly, if I don’t have access, I can’t judge it. , I have no way of determining whether it corresponds to the facts.”

A Russian-based official in Ukraine said on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had repeatedly used Western weapons to attack the plant. I have been warned.

8:15 am: Russian forces shell a town near Kharkov

Ukrainian officials in the east said several towns, including the Kharkiv region, had come under shelling in the past hours. In the Donetsk region, Kyiv initiated a forced evacuation due to heavy shelling. However, many decline, claiming they have nowhere else to go.

7:45: Ukraine warns of new Russian offensive to the south

On the battlefield, Russian forces have engaged in considerable military activity, firing from tanks, barrels and rocket launchers in several areas of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said Thursday. Ukraine said Russia has begun creating strike groups in the direction of Kryvyi Rih and may be preparing new offensive operations in southern Ukraine.

The steel-producing city of Kriviri, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky grew up, lies between the Russian-occupied cities of Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv, about 50 km (30 mi) from the Southern Front.

2:00am: Zelensky reportedly seeks ‘direct talks’ with China to help end Ukraine war

Ukraine He wants an opportunity to speak “directly” with Chinese President Xi Jinping to end the war with Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

In an interview with the SCMP, the Ukrainian leader urged: China capitalize on its extraordinary political and economic influence Russia to end the fight.

“It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy…so[it]can influence Russia politically and economically. And China [also a] It is a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” the report quoted Zelensky.

12:34 am: US Senate passes resolution ratifying Sweden, Finland’s NATO membership

The US Senate on Wednesday ratified Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership, strongly backing the expansion of the transatlantic alliance in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Senate voted 95-1 in favor of joining the two Nordic countries, making the United States the 23rd of 30 NATO members so far to formally recognize, after Italy on Wednesday and France on Tuesday. did.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)

First published on France24