Live: Blasts heard in Kyiv, Zelensky says situation in Mariupol ‘inhuman’

Issued on: 17/04/2022 – 06:52Modified: 17/04/2022 – 06:59

06:00am: Situation in Mariupol ‘inhuman’, says Zelensky

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation in Mariupol is “inhuman” and called on the West to immediately provide heavy weapons, as Russia claimed it was in control of almost all of the strategic port city and urged its last defenders to surrender.

Moscow said Ukrainian forces in the city must lay down their arms by Sunday, after weeks of relative calm in the capital Kyiv were brought to an end by renewed Russian airstrikes.

Austria’s chancellor, the first European leader to meet with Vladimir Putin in person since the invasion began, said he thought the Russian president “believes he is winning the war” in Ukraine.

But in the south, the devastated city of Mariupol has become a symbol of Ukraine’s unexpectedly fierce resistance since Russian troops invaded the former Soviet state on February 24.

Moscow officials now say they are in full control there, though Ukrainian fighters remain holed up in the city’s fortress-like steelworks.

“The situation in Mariupol remains as severe as possible. Just inhuman,” President Zelensky said in a video address. 

“Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there.”

05:56am: Blasts heard in Kyiv 

Explosions were heard in the early hours on Sunday in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, local media reported.

Overnight, air raid sirens were going off over nearly all of Ukraine.

There was no official explanation for the explosions and Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.Russia has renewed its attack on the capital over the weekend, and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has advised residents who fled the city earlier in the war not to return.