Russia-Ukraine war highlights: EU imposes fresh sanctions on Moscow

The Ukrainian government said on Friday  that 6,665 people were evacuated from the country's cities through humanitarian corridors.

The European Union (EU) on Friday imposed fresh sanctions on Moscow over the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

"In light of Russia's continuing war of aggression against Ukraine, and the reported atrocities committed by Russian armed forces in Ukraine, the Council decided today to impose the fifth package of economic and individual sanctions against Russia," an official statement said. 

Germany and Britain have vowed to send Ukraine more weapons and work together to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw its forces from the war-torn country. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK would send a further 100 million pounds ($130 million) worth of military equipment, including precision munitions that can linger in the sky until they find their target. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany would also continue deliveries to Kyiv, without specifying types or amounts.

Ukraine said at least 50 people were killed on Friday and many more wounded in a rocket strike at a railway station packed with civilians fleeing the threat of a major Russian offensive in the country's east, reported Reuters.

Ukraine's Odessa introduces weekend curfew over 'missile strike threat', reports AFP quoting authorities.

Ukrainian investigators began to exhume a mass grave in Bucha on Friday, opening the early stages of what police say will be a war crimes case targeting Russian troops who occupied the Kyiv commuter town, AFP reported.

Finland on Friday said it will expel two Russian diplomats over the war in Ukraine, following a wave of similar moves across Europe, reported AFP. Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) land border with Russia, and is currently considering whether to join NATO.

The European Commission chief and the EU's top diplomat arrived in Kyiv on Friday to offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy support and reassurance over his bid for EU membership in a capital gradually reviving after Russia pulled back forces, reported Reuters.

Russia, Ukraine 'willing to hold talks in Turkey' despite Bucha images, AFP reports, citing a Turkish official.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said no Ukrainian troops were at a railway station in east Ukraine that was hit by rockets on Friday. Zelenskiy told Finnish parliament that more than 30 civilians had been killed in the attack and added: “Russian forces hit the train station in Kramatorsk, (firing) on an ordinary train station, on ordinary people, there were no soldiers there.”

Russia's defence ministry said on Friday it did not launch an attack on a train station in eastern Ukraine, which a local rescue worker said killed at least 35 people.

"All statements by representatives of the Kyiv nationalist regime about the 'rocket attack' allegedly carried out by Russia on April 8 at the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk are a provocation and are absolutely untrue," the ministry said in a statement.

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Two rockets strike train station in east Ukraine used for evacuations, killing at least 20 people, reports news agency AFP.  

World food prices jumped to a new record high in March as the war in Ukraine caused turmoil in markets for staples grains and edible oils, the U.N. food agency said on Friday. The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month versus an upwardly revised 141.4 for February.

Ukraine and Russia are "constantly" holding peace talks online but the mood has been affected by events including the deaths of civilians in the town of Bucha, Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said in televised comments on Friday.

Ukrainian officials accuse Russian troops of carrying out extra-judicial killings in Bucha, outside Kyiv. Moscow denies targeting civilians in Ukraine and has said the deaths in Bucha were a "monstrous forgery" staged by the West to discredit it.

Governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region says Russians accumulating forces but have not broken through Ukrainian defences in his eastern region. 

Ukraine says it aims to establish up to 10 humanitarian corridors on Friday, civillians fleeing Mariupol will have to use private vehicles.

Russia gave the most sombre assessment so far of its invasion of Ukraine, describing the "tragedy" of mounting troop losses and the economic hit from sanctions, as Ukrainians were evacuated from eastern cities before an anticipated major offensive.

UK military intelligence says in the north, Russian forces have now fully withdrawn from Ukraine to Belarus and Russia. Some of these Russian forces will be tranferred to east Ukraine to fight in the Donbas, the military also said, as per Reuters.

Civilians in eastern Ukraine struggled to evacuate Friday as Russia redirects its firepower, with President Volodymyr Zelensky warning of "even more horrific" devastation being uncovered around the capital.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Kyiv on Friday to show Europe's "unwavering support" for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, she says.

European Council chief Charles Michel on Thursday backed a proposal to release an additional 500 million euros ($540 million) to provide arms for Ukraine. "Once swiftly approved this will bring to 1.5 billion euros the EU support already provided for military equipment for #Ukraine," Michel tweeted, also thanking EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell for proposing the extra funding.

The proposal was agreed on Thursday by the 27 EU nations at ambassador level.

Australia will donate 20 Bushmaster armored combat vehicles to Ukraine following a direct request from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the locally-made equipment to help repel the Russian invasion.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has given up on conquering Kyiv after his forces were soundly beaten back by the Ukrainian military.