Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

Mariupol evacuation

Ukraine will make a new attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, the devastated port city now largely controlled by Russian forces, from noon on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says.

“Today we will again try to evacuate women, children and the elderly,” Vereshchuk says on Telegram.

UN chief to meet Putin, Zelensky

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine next week after a stop in Moscow to confer with President Vladimir Putin, UN says.

Guterres will see Zelensky and Ukraine’s foreign minister on Thursday, two days after visiting Moscow.

Russia breaks silence on sunken cruiser

Russia reveals that one crew member died and 27 were missing after the Moskva missile cruiser sank last week, Moscow’s first admission of the losses following the tragedy.

“As a result of a fire on April 13, the Moskva missile cruiser was seriously damaged due to the detonation of ammunition,” the defence ministry says in a statement.

Thales accusation

A senior Ukrainian official accuses French defence electronics company Thales of violating European sanctions and selling Russia equipment that was used to kill civilians fleeing recent fighting outside Kyiv, claims strongly denied by the company.

“A family was trying to escape but was killed by Russian murderers,” tweets presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak. “Killed, as it is now proved, with French weapons sold in circumvention of sanctions in 2015.”

Russia jails opposition leader

Russian authorities declare opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza a “foreign agent” and order his pre-trial detention for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian army amid its military campaign in Ukraine.

Moscow’s Basmanny district court orders that the 40-year-old Kremlin opponent be held in jail until June 12.

US meeting on Ukraine long-term security

The Pentagon invites 40 allies to meet in Germany next week to discuss Ukraine’s longer-term security needs.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says defence ministers and senior generals of 20 countries, NATO and non-NATO members, have already accepted the invitation for the Tuesday meeting in Germany.

Mariupol forces urged to surrender

Russia’s defence ministry says it is ready for a humanitarian ceasefire at the Azovstal steel plant if Kyiv’s soldiers holed up there surrender.

“All servicemen of the Ukrainian armed forces, militants of the national battalions and foreign mercenaries who laid down their arms are guaranteed life, decent treatment in accordance with international law, and the provision of quality medical care,” Putin says, adding: “But the Kyiv regime is not allowing for this opportunity to be used.”

Source: AFP