War In Ukraine: Latest Developments

Kyiv, Ukraine, April 1 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Apr, 2022 ) :Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine: - Ukraine accused of Russia attack - Ukrainian helicopters have carried out a strike on a fuel storage facility in Russia's western town of Belgorod, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the border, according to the local governor.

Vyacheslav Gladkov says on Telegram the air strike was "carried out by two Ukrainian army helicopters, which entered Russian territory at a low altitude". Ukraine would neither confirm nor deny the attack.

- Mariupol evacuation postponed - The Red Cross says it is "impossible to proceed" with the planned evacuation of civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol on Friday.

An ICRC team of three vehicles and nine personnel sent to facilitate the evacuation of thousands of civilians has been forced to turn around and "will try again on Saturday", it says.

- Peace talks resume - Peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials resume via video, but Moscow warns that the helicopter attack will hamper negotiations.

Moscow's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky says on Telegram: "Our positions on Crimea and Donbass have not changed." - 'Russia preparing powerful strikes' - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is preparing "powerful strikes" in the country's east and south, including Mariupol.

Moscow said in peace talks earlier this week it would scale back attacks on the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernigiv.

- Ukrainian troops regaining control - Ukraine's troops begin to regain control including around the capital Kyiv and in the southern region of Kherson -- the only significant city that Russia had managed to occupy.

Russian troops "are continuing their partial retreat" from the north of Kyiv towards the Belarusian border, Ukraine's defence ministry says.

- New gas war front - Russian President Vladimir Putin says "unfriendly" countries, including all EU members, must set up ruble accounts to pay for gas deliveries from April, or "existing contracts would be stopped".

- 30 countries tap oil reserves - The 31-country International Energy Agency (IEA) agrees to tap national emergency oil reserves again in a bid to calm crude prices that have soared following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On Thursday US President Joe Biden announced a record release of US oil onto the market.

- China warned - The EU's top officials have warned China's leaders at a summit not to help Russia wage war on Ukraine or sidestep Western sanctions, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen says.

"It would lead to a major reputational damage for China here in Europe," Von der Leyen says after video talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

- Chernobyl radiation - Russian soldiers were likely exposed to radiation while they were occupying the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power station over the past four weeks, Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom says.

The power station, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, was taken back under the control of Ukrainian forces on Thursday.

- Lavrov lauds India - Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov praises India's refusal to condemn the Ukraine invasion, stressing their "friendship" and saying Moscow and New Delhi will find ways to circumvent "illegal" Western sanctions and continue to trade.

- Landmarks damaged - The UN's cultural agency UNESCO says it has confirmed that at least 53 Ukrainian historical sites, religious buildings and museums have sustained damage during Russia's invasion of the country.

- 4.1 million refugees -The number of Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's war in their country has crossed 4.1 million, the United Nations says.