Russia-Ukraine live news: Kharkiv mayor says attacks escalating
- Ukrainian officials says at least four people have been killed in the eastern city of Kharkiv in increasing Russian bombings.
- Mariupol’s mayor says more than 100,000 people are awaiting evacuation from the city.
- US President Joe Biden announces $800m in additional military aid to Ukraine.
- Moscow is imposing tit-for-tat sanctions against US legislators and Canadian senators, the Interfax news agency reported.
Here are all the latest updates:
25 mins ago (20:47 GMT)
At least 4 killed, 10 injured in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, officials say
Four civilians have been killed and 10 others injured in Ukraine’s eastern second city of Kharkiv, local officials said, as Russian forces stepped up their bombing campaign.
“The enemy is bombing residential homes, residential areas. Unfortunately, there are civilian casualties – the worst thing is that children are dying,” Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov told Ukrainian national television.
Kharkiv region Governor Oleh Synehubov later wrote on the Telegram messaging app that four people were killed and 10 wounded by attacks on the city.
46 mins ago (20:26 GMT)
Macron, Scholz steer clear of Biden’s ‘genocide’ claim
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have avoided echoing Biden’s accusation that Russia is carrying out “genocide” against Ukrainians, warning that verbal escalations would not help end the war.
But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he believed it was “absolutely right” to describe Russian actions in Ukraine as “genocide”.
“I think it’s absolutely right that more and more people be talking and using the word ‘genocide’ in terms of what Russia is doing, what Vladimir Putin has done,” Trudeau told reporters.
52 mins ago (20:20 GMT)
Ukraine war is causing a ‘three dimensional crisis’: UN Secretary-General
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the war on Ukraine is “supercharging” food, energy and economic crises, which will affect the world’s most vulnerable people.
“The war is supercharging a three-dimensional crisis — food, energy and finance — that is pummeling some of the world’s most vulnerable people, countries and economies,” Guterres said in a speech.
“And all this comes at a time when developing countries are already struggling with a slate of challenges not of their making — the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and a lack of access to adequate resources to finance the recovery in the context of persistent and growing inequalities.”
58 mins ago (20:14 GMT)
Biden administration announces $800m in additional military aid to Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has approved $800m in new military assistance to Ukraine, including artillery and helicopters, to bolster its defences against an intensified Russian offensive in the country’s east.
Biden announced the aid after a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to coordinate the delivery of the assistance.
“This new package of assistance will contain many of the highly effective weapons systems we have already provided and new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine,” he said in a statement.
Read more here.
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Read all the updates from Wednesday, April 13 here.