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- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Western nations should not lift sanctions on Moscow until all Russian troops leave Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vows to fight for ‘every metre’ of Ukrainian territory.
- More than four million people have fled Ukraine amid Russia’s offensive, according to UN figures.
- Pentagon says Russia has started to reposition under 20 percent of the forces it had assembled around Kyiv.
- Ukrainian officials say Russian attacks have not eased in Chernihiv despite a promise by Moscow to scale back its offensive there.
Here are all the latest updates:
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy dismisses claims of Russian military scaleback
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he didn’t trust Russian vows to scale back military activity and that his army was getting ready for further fighting in the east.
“We don’t believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase,” Zelenskyy said in a video address to the nation, adding that Russian troops were regrouping to strike the eastern Donbas region. “We will not give anything away. We will fight for every metre of our territory.”
‘Promises cannot be believed from the Russian side,’ analyst says
Evacuations and other humanitarian interventions in Ukraine are “very difficult” because Russian promises cannot be believed, global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw has told Al Jazeera.
Bociurkiw, a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine, was speaking after Russia announced it would implement a ceasefire on Thursday to allow for civilian evacuations from the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.
“Where we are right now in Ukraine is that the Russian promises have no validity whatsoever because they’ve been violated so many times,” he said.
“So anyone from the Red Cross or the Ukrainian government … has a very difficult time planning any type of intervention, evacuation, [or] humanitarian delivery because promises cannot be believed from the Russian side.”
Russia announces ceasefire in Mariupol to evacuate civilians
The Russian defence ministry has announced a local ceasefire to allow civilians to be evacuated from Ukraine’s besieged port city of Mariupol.
A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, would be opened from 10am (0700 GMT) on Thursday, the ministry said.
“For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross,” the ministry statement said.
The Russian ministry asked Kyiv to guarantee the “unconditional respect” for the ceasefire through written notification to the Russian side, the UNHCR and ICRC before 6am (0300 GMT) Thursday.
Sanctions should remain until all Russian troops withdraw: UK’s Johnson
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Western nations should not lift sanctions on Russia until all of Moscow’s troops leave Ukraine.
“I certainly don’t think that you could expect the G7 to lift sanctions simply because there’s been a ceasefire in Ukraine, and that again goes straight into Putin’s playbook,” Johnson said.
“In my view, we should continue to intensify sanctions with a rolling programme until every single one of his troops is out of Ukraine.”
Invasion ‘strategic blunder’ for Russia, White House says
The White House communications director has described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “strategic blunder”.
“It is increasingly clear that Putin’s war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term and increasingly isolated on the world stage,” Kate Bedingfield told reporters during a news briefing.
Russia repositioning under 20 percent of its forces around Kyiv: Pentagon
Russia has started to reposition under 20 percent of its forces around Kyiv, the Pentagon has said, cautioning that Moscow was expected to refit and resupply them for redeployment but not bring the forces home.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said some of the Russian forces may have already moved into Belarus, as opposed to their home garrisons.
Kirby also said during a news briefing that Russian private military company Wagner Group had deployed about 1,000 contractors into Ukraine’s Donbas region, which Moscow has declared a priority in its offensive.
Gas supply: What will happen if Russia turns off taps to Germany?
The German government has triggered the first stage of an emergency plan for natural gas supplies and urged consumers to save energy in the face of growing concerns that sanctions-hit Russia could stop deliveries unless it is paid in roubles.
Putin announced last week his country would only accept payments in roubles for natural gas deliveries to “unfriendly countries” – those that have imposed sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, including all European Union members.
Click here for more on Germany’s decision.
White House says Putin misled by advisers on Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been misled by his advisers about the Russian military’s performance in Ukraine, the White House has said.
“We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,” Kate Bedingfield, White House communications director, told reporters during a news briefing.
“We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy has been crippled by sanctions because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth.”
Welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Read all the updates from Wednesday, March 30 here.
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