Russia-Ukraine war highlights: 3 explosions heard near Lviv, says governor

Russian forces have taken control of Ukraine's Slavutych, where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, and three people were killed, Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted the local mayor as saying. Also read

President Joe Biden on Saturday dramatically escalated his rhetoric against Vladimir Putin, calling for the Russian leader to be removed because of his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.," Biden’s said at the very end of a speech in Poland's capital that served as the capstone on a four-day trip to Europe. Read more

President Joe Biden on Saturday marveled at the spirit and resolve of Ukrainian refugees in the aftermath of Russia’s deadly invasion as he embraced mothers and children and promised enduring support from Western powers, reported AP.

Three explosions were heard near Ukraine's western city of Lviv on Saturday, an official from the Lviv city council said, Reuters reported.

United States President Joe Biden said on Saturday that he was not sure that Russia had changed its strategy in its invasion of Ukraine, after Moscow said its focus was now to completely "liberate" the breakaway eastern Donbass region, reported Reuters.

 President Joe Biden on Saturday sought to reassure Poland that the United States would defend against any attacks by Russia and he acknowledged that the NATO ally bore the burden of the refugee crisis from the war in neighboring Ukraine, reported AP.

The mayor of Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Saturday cancelled a curfew he had announced just hours earlier for the next day without providing further explanation, reported AFP.

Ukraine's president called Saturday on energy-rich nations to increase their production of oil and natural gas to counteract the loss of Russian supplies amid sanctions over Moscow's war on his country, reported AP.

Russian forces have taken control of Ukraine's Slavutych, where workers at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear plant live, the governor of Kyiv region said on Saturday, reported Reuters. 

Russia's "bragging" about its nuclear weapons is fuelling a dangerous arms race, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Doha Forum on Saturday, AFP reported.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko on Saturday said that a longer curfew will be imposed in the Ukrainian capital from 8p.m. local time on Saturday to 7a.m. on Monday.

Klitschko said local residents will be allowed to leave their homes only to get to a bomb shelter.

President Joe Biden plans to meet with top Ukrainian officials on Saturday while in Poland, Bloomberg reported. 

Zelenskyy in his video address on Saturday criticised Russia’s ongoing war on his nation and called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid. He compared Russia’s destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.

“They are destroying our ports,” Zelenskyy said. “The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.”

He added: “The future of Europe rests with your efforts.” He called on countries to increase their exports of energy — something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.

At least 136 children have been killed and 199 others wounded since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, The Kyiv Independent quoted the prosecutor general’s office as saying.

It added In Kyiv oblast only, as many as 64 children were either killed or injured.

Russia's ambassador to France was summoned on Friday to the French Foreign Ministry over an earlier embassy Twitter post that Paris deemed unacceptable, the foreign ministry said.

The Russian Embassy in Paris on Thursday had posted a picture depicting a body lying on a table called "Europe" with characters representing the United States and European Union jabbing needles into it.

China's state-run Sinopec Group has suspended talks for a major petrochemical investment and a gas marketing venture in Russia, sources told Reuters, heeding a government call for caution as sanctions mount over the invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.

“Potentially unwitting disclosure of information surrounding incoming supplies of equipment or weapons has led to interceptions by Russian forces,” The Kyiv independent reported Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar as saying.

More than 3.7 million of Ukrainians have fled abroad, half to neighbouring Poland in the west, where Biden on Friday met soldiers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division bolstering the NATO alliance's eastern flank.

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Putin’s demand that purchases of Russian gas must be paid in rubles. “All the texts signed are very clear: it is forbidden,” Macron said at a press conference in Brussels. He said contracts signed with European buyers stipulate a payment in euros and must be respected.

More than 130 refugees from Ukraine have arrived at a German airport, the first of 2,500 due to arrive via Moldova.

More than 376,000 people fleeing the war in Ukraine have arrived in Moldova, an influx that's been a challenge for the small, former Soviet republic, which is wedged between Ukraine and Romania.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said Germany is working with allies to airlift refugees to countries farther away from the war.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement that Germany “can be a hub for fair distribution in Europe” of refugees.

More than 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion started a month ago.

Hungary’s prime minister on Friday rejected an emotional appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to supply Ukraine with weapons and support sanctions on Russia’s energy sector.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a video posted to social media that Zelenskyy’s requests were “against Hungary’s interests.”

Zelenskyy, appearing by video from Kyiv, then appealed to the EU leaders, who had gathered Thursday in Brussels, to move quickly on Ukraine’s application to join the bloc. He appealed particularly to Hungary not to block Ukraine’s bid.

Hungarian President Viktor Orban is widely considered to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally among EU leaders.

European nations have reacted sharply to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to have “unfriendly” countries pay for its natural gas exports only in rubles.

Several EU leaders have come out saying it would be a gross violation of their contracts. From German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, they said they would not meet such demands.

The EU imports 90% of the natural gas used to generate electricity, heat homes and supply industry, with Russia supplying almost 40% of it.

It is "foolish" to believe that Western sanctions against Russian businesses could have any effect on the Moscow government, Russian ex-president and deputy head of security council Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying on Friday.

The sanctions will only consolidate the Russian society and not cause popular discontent with the authorities, Medvedev told Russia's RIA news agency in an interview.

Spotify is halting its services in Russia in light of the country’s strict new censorship law, which it says puts its employees and possibly even listeners at risk.

The Swedish music streaming company’s move comes after other companies pulled out of Russia due to its censorship law. The statute imposes prison sentences of up to 15 years for those spreading information that goes against the Russian government’s narrative on the war.