The war continues for a 94e day in Ukraine as the Russian military intensified its offensive in eastern Ukraine and engaged in a show of force in the Arctic with another successful hypersonic missile launch.
Here are the latest developments, minute by minute
7am | Ukraine defends the Donbass, the Russian army intensifies its offensive
Kyiv pledged to “do everything” to defend Donbass, while the Russian army stepped up its offensive in eastern Ukraine and engaged in a show of force in the Arctic with another successful hypersonic missile.
“The situation in Donbass is very, very difficult,” President Volodimyr Zelensky said in a video on Friday. “We protect our land and do everything to strengthen” the defense of this region, he assured.
5:20 am | Ukraine: ex-president Poroshenko says he was refused to leave the country
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, a rival of current leader Volodymyr Zelensky, announced on Saturday that he had been refused leave of the country for a trip to Lithuania, slamming a decision that broke the “political ceasefire” by full Russian invasion.
Mr. Poroshenko, president from 2014 to 2019 of Ukraine, is today at the head of the European Solidarity party, the second largest party in Parliament and in opposition to Mr. Zelensky.
According to his press service, Mr Poroshenko “was refused to cross the border into Ukraine” when he was due to take part in the NATO parliamentary assembly in Vilnius and had received “all formal permissions to leave the country” as a permanent member of the Ukrainian delegation.
4:08 | Russia announces another successful hypersonic missile launch
The Russian army announced on Saturday that it had successfully carried out a new test launch of the Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, as Moscow intensifies its offensive in Ukraine.
The Zircon missile was fired from the Admiral Gorchkov frigate in the Barents Sea at a target in Arctic White Sea waters, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The target located a thousand kilometers away “has been successfully targeted”, according to the same source.