Situation on the ground, international reactions, sanctions: update on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Boutcha: bodies of tortured men found
The bodies of three visibly tortured and shot dead men were found in a grave near Boucha on Friday, with their hands tied and blindfolded, kyiv police said on Saturday.
“The victims were tortured for a long time […]. In the end, each of them was shot in the temple,” Kyiv region police chief Andriy Nebytov said.
Odessa: Russian strike against the airport
Odessa airport, in southern Ukraine, was hit on Saturday by a Russian missile which destroyed the runway, without causing any casualties, announced the governor of the region, Maxim Marchenko.
“Today the enemy struck from Crimea with a Bastion coastal defense missile system. The runway at Odessa airport was destroyed. Thank God there were no casualties,” the governor said in a video on his Telegram account.
Pressure on Kharkiv
Russian forces on Saturday maintained their pressure on the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, particularly around Kharkiv, the big city in the northeast, where they are trying to increase their control, despite, according to kyiv , backhand on the ground.
Violent explosions were heard overnight from Friday to Saturday in Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, pounded for weeks by Russian artillery. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that the situation in the region was “difficult”, “but our military is achieving tactical success”, he added.
In the Donetsk and Lugansk region, 14 attacks launched by Russian forces have been repelled in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian forces’ general staff said on Saturday.
New prisoner exchange with Russia
Fourteen Ukrainians, including a pregnant woman, have been freed in a new prisoner exchange with Russia, kyiv announced, without as usual revealing the number of Russians who were handed over to Moscow.
Mariupol: 20 civilians evacuated from the Azovstal site
Twenty civilians, women and children, left the Azovstal factory in Mariupol, a port in southeastern Ukraine besieged by the Russians, on Saturday to be evacuated to Zaporizhia, announced the Azov regiment which defends the site.
Russian plane violates Swedish airspace
A Russian reconnaissance plane briefly violated Swedish airspace on Friday, the staff of the Scandinavian country announced on Saturday, whose authorities are considering a possible candidacy for NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Paris will “reinforce” the sending of aid
France will “reinforce” the sending of military equipment to Ukraine as well as its humanitarian aid to this country, the Elysee announced on Saturday after a meeting between the re-elected president, Emmanuel Macron, and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Lavrov urges NATO to stop arming Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged NATO and the United States to stop delivering weapons to kyiv, if they “are really interested in solving the Ukrainian crisis”.
“A continuous flow of weapons of all kinds has entered Ukraine through Poland and other NATO countries,” Lavrov said in an interview published Saturday by the official China News Agency.
The minister added that the Russian offensive in Ukraine was proceeding “according to plans” and that all its objectives “will be achieved despite the obstruction of our adversaries”.
Amsterdam: refusal to unload a Russian tanker
Dutch dockworkers refused to unload a tanker containing a cargo of Russian diesel in Amsterdam on Saturday.
The Sunny Liger, a 42,000 tonne tanker, is currently at anchor off Amsterdam. On Friday, dockers at the port of Rotterdam also refused to process its cargo.
Angelina Jolie in Lviv to meet displaced people
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, made a surprise visit to Lviv in western Ukraine on Saturday, where she spoke with displaced people and was spotted in a cafe.