Here are the key events so far on Friday, May 13.
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Fighting
- The families and supporters of the Ukrainian fighters holed up in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant are pleading for more help for them to be rescued.
- Russian forces have likely taken control of all Rubizhne and Voevodivka in the Luhansk region, the Institute for the Study of War has said.
- Shelling in Luhansk has killed two people and destroyed more than 50 homes, the region’s governor has said.
- Russian military targeted villages in the east near Donetsk, Lyman, Bakhmut and Kurakhiv, the Ukrainian military has claimed.
- Increasing military support from the West to Ukraine risks sparking a war between Russia and NATO, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies has declared.
- Rocket attacks intensified on Ukraine’s central Poltava region, “perhaps the most intense for the duration of the war”, the regional governor has said.
- Ukraine has said forces damaged a Russian navy ship in the Black Sea with satellite images showing a probable strike.
- More than six million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on February 24, United Nations refugee agency data showed.
Human rights
Diplomacy and aid
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is prepared for talks with Putin to find mutual agreement but says Ukraine will never recognise Crimea as part of Russia.
- During a G7 meeting, British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss said it is essential to maintain the pressure on Russia by providing more weapons to Ukraine.
- United States Republican Senator Rand Paul has single-handedly delayed the passage of a $40bn aid bill to provide support to Ukraine after the US House approved it on Wednesday.
- The head of Zelenskyy’s office said Ukraine must “become part of a united Europe as soon as possible. This is a matter of mutual security”.
- European Commission President von der Leyen called Russia the “most direct threat” to the international order and said it has waged “barbaric war”.
- A Russian diplomat warned Finland and Sweden that they could become “a target” after Finnish officials announced the country must join NATO military alliance “without delay”.
Economy
- Ukraine spent 245.1 billion hryvnia ($8.3bn) on the war instead of development since the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24, the finance minister said.
- Putin blamed the West for triggering a global economic crisis and inflation due to severe sanctions imposed on Russia.
- Europe is facing gas supply disruption and pressure for alternatives after Russia imposed sanctions on European subsidiaries of Russia’s state-owned Gazprom energy giant and Ukraine halted gas flow, leading to higher prices.
- The European Commission said it would help Ukraine export millions of tonnes of grain blocked by the Russian navy in Ukraine’s ports.
