Highlights: Ukraine begins first war crimes trial of Russian soldier

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell promised Ukraine an extra 500 million euros ($520 million), bringing the bloc's total military aid to two billion euros. "The recipe is clear -- more of the same," Borrell said at a gathering of leading democracies as the war entered its 12th week.

Russian air forces have attacked an arms depot in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, state news agency RIA quoted the Russian Defence Ministry as saying on Friday.

European Union ambassador to India, Ugo Astuto, said the bloc is discussing imposing the sixth package of sanctions against Russia and want the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine, ANI reported. "We have launched five packages of sanctions. We are discussing the sixth one. These sanctions are unprecedented. it's extremely significant that they cover a wide range of topics and that there are financial sanctions, there is a listing of personalities responsible for aggression. We have a ban on aircraft from Russia on shipping, and we are exploring other options," Astuto told ANI adding that the "purpose is clear to stop the war hostilities and Russia to withdraw its troops."

A Ukrainian court held a preliminary hearing on Friday in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia's Feb. 24 invasion, after charging a captured Russian soldier with the murder of a 62-year-old civilian. The case is of huge symbolic importance for Ukraine. The Kyiv government has accused Russia of atrocities and brutality against civilians during the invasion and said it has identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Friday to move immediately to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine, in their first conversation since before the war began, the Pentagon said.

"Secretary Austin urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication," the Pentagon said in a statement.

Ukrainian forces destroyed parts of a Russian armoured column as it tried to cross a river in the Donbas region, video from Ukraine's military showed on Friday, as Moscow appeared to be refocusing its assault in the east after a new pushback by Kyiv, Reuters reported.

Britain on Friday sanctioned 12 members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "inner circle" including his reputed girlfriend, accusing them of hiding tens of billions of dollars on his behalf, AFP reported. The list included Putin's ex-wife Lyudmila Ocheretnaya and Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast whom UK officials described as his "current partner", as well as Kabaeva's grandmother Anna Zatseplina.

India on Friday announced that its embassy in Ukraine would resume its operation from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv from May 17, PTI reported. Full report

Ukraine asked the G7 group of rich nations on Friday to seize Russian assets and hand them over to help it rebuild after months of war, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, Reuters reported.

The Kremlin hit back on Friday at calls by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to "root out" Russia's "monstrous ideology".

"This is the quintessence of that hatred towards Russians that has regrettably, like a metastasis, infected the entire Polish leadership and, in many ways, Polish society," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in briefing, Reuters reported.

Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, announces the bloc would provide a further 500 millions euros worth of military support to Ukraine and that he was confident a deal could be reached in the coming days to agree an embargo on Russian oil.

G7 countries ‘very strongly united’ in our will to 'continue in the long term to support Ukraine's fight for its sovereignty until Ukraine's victory': Jean-Yves Le Drian, French foreign minister, at G7 meet

"It is very important at this time that the UK and our allies keep up the pressure on Vladimir Putin by supplying more weapons to Ukraine and by increasing the sanctions," said Liz Truss, foreign secretary, UK.

Ukrainian forces successfully prevented an attempted Russian river crossing in the Donbas, says the UK's defence ministry on latest situation in the east European nation.

Sergeant Vadim Shyshimarin, who is accused of shooting a 62-year-old man in the head through an open car window in the northeastern village of Chupakhivka, faces seven years in jail, under the Ukrainian criminal code.

Amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, foreign ministers of the G7 nations--Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, United States and the European Union--will, on Friday, convene for their annual meeting, being held this year in Germany's Baltic Sea resort of Weissenhaus. Ukrainian and Moldovan foreign ministers to attend as well.

"The war in Ukraine is a child rights crisis where education is under attack, nearly 100 youngsters have been killed in just the last month," said Omar Abdi, deputy executive director of the UNICEF, in an address to the Security Council.

Thanks to the actions of our naval seamen, the support vessel Vsevolod Bobrov caught fire - it is one of the newest in the Russian fleet: Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman, Odesa regional military administration