The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 8pm. Here is a roundup of the day’s main headlines:
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that “Ukraine will definitely win” during a working trip to the southern city of Mykolaiv, as relentless fighting in the country’s east continued on Saturday.
Several hundred potential war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are being investigated by German authorities.
It is important that Britain continues to show it is supporting Ukraine for the long haul, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Saturday, warning of a risk of “Ukraine fatigue” as the war drags on.
Russia is sending a large number of reserve troops to Sievierodonetsk from other battle zones to try to gain full control of the frontline eastern city, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region has said.
Ukraine’s defence intelligence directorate said on Saturday that five Ukrainian civilians had been returned in a five-for-five prisoner swap with Russia.
Hundreds of mourners gathered in Kyiv to say their goodbyes to a young Ukrainian activist who was killed fighting on the frontline. Roman Ratushnyi, 24, died on Saturday while battling Russian forces in Izium, which has been subjected to relentless shelling, according to Associated Press.
Lithuanian authorities said a ban on the transit through their territory to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad of goods that are subject to EU sanctions would take effect from Saturday.
Rockets hit a southern district of Ukraine’s central city of Kryvyi Rih on Saturday, leading to at least two casualties, local authorities said in posts on the messaging app Telegram.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Maya Yang will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news from Ukraine.
Russia is sending a large number of reserve troops to Sievierodonetsk from other battle zones to try to gain full control of the frontline eastern city, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region has said.
“Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, they will throw in all the reserves they have … because there are so many of them there already, they’re at critical mass,” Serhiy Haidai said on national television.
He said Russian forces already controlled most but not all of Sievierodonetsk.
Hundreds of mourners have gathered in Ukraine’s capital for a well-known Kyiv activist who was killed after taking up arms against Russian invaders.
24-year-old Roman Ratushnyi had been a teenage protester during months of demonstrations that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russian leader in 2014.
He was also known in Kyiv as an environmental campaigner who led a fight to preserve a wooded park from development, AP reported.
Poppies were lain on his coffin at a memorial service, before mourners walked in a silent column behind his coffin to a vast plaza in central Kyiv where three months of protests helped overthrow then-president Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
Ratushnyi’s sacrifice symbolises that of Ukraine’s post-independence generations, who are giving up their best years, and sometimes their lives, in the cause of freedom.
Pjotr Sauer
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said “Ukraine will definitely win” during a working trip to the southern city of Mykolaiv, as relentless fighting in the country’s east continued on Saturday.
The president handed out medals and posed for selfies with servicemen in what appeared to be an underground shelter, according to a video posted to his official Telegram account.
“Our brave men. Each one of them is working flat out,” he said. “We will definitely hold out. We will definitely win.”
Russian forces reached the outskirts of Mykolaiv in early March but were then pushed back to the eastern and southern edges of the region, where fierce fighting continues.
Ukraine’s defence intelligence directorate said on Saturday that five Ukrainian civilians had been returned in a five-for-five prisoner swap with Russia.
It did not say whether the exchanged Russians were combatants, Reuters reported.
The directorate said four of the five Ukrainian civilians had been taken prisoner during Russia’s occupation of parts of the Kyiv region, from which Russian forces withdrew at the end of March.
It also said the dead body of a Ukrainian civilian was recovered in the exchange.
Hundreds of mourners have gathered in Kyiv to say their goodbyes to a young Ukrainian activist who was killed fighting on the frontline.
Roman Ratushnyi, 24, died on Saturday while battling Russian forces in Izium, which has been subjected to relentless shelling, according to Associated Press.
He was among the demonstrators who had helped topple the country’s pro-Russia leader in 2014, and did not hesitate to take up arms when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion in February.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry was among those to pay tribute to Ratushnyi, tweeting:
From the first day of Maidan, 17yo Roman joined the protests and was among the students beaten by police. At his 24 he decided to defend Ukraine from Russians.
We will always remember our brave defenders.
#Kyiv says goodbye to Roman Ratushnyi, #Ukrainian activist, defender.
From the first day of Maidan, 17yo Roman joined the protests and was among the students beaten by police. At his 24 he decided to defend #Ukraine from #Russians.
Several hundred potential war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are being investigated by German authorities.
Its federal police says it has received leads in the triple digits involving both political and military officials, reports AFP.
“Our clear goal is to identify those responsible for atrocities, to prove their actions through our investigations and bring them to justice,” its head, Holder Muench, told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
German investigators could be sent to Ukraine, he added, but they would need an international mandate to do so.
Ukraine last month declared 15,000 suspected war crimes had been reported since the war began.
Chief prosecutor Iryna Venediktova said some 600 suspects had been identified, and included “top military, politicians, and propaganda agents of Russia”.
Russia has denied targeting civilians or involvement in war crimes.
Lithuanian authorities have said a ban on the transit through their territory to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad of goods that are subject to EU sanctions will take effect from Saturday.
News of the ban came on Friday, through a video posted by Kaliningrad’s governor, Anton Alikhanov, Reuters reported.
The EU sanctions list includes coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology, and Alikhanov said the ban would cover about 50% of the items that Kaliningrad imports.
Its immediate start was confirmed by the cargo arm of Lithuania’s state railways service in a letter to clients following “clarification” from the European Commission on the mechanism for applying the sanctions.
The British prime minister has urged the European Broadcast Union (EBU) to reverse its decision to move the Eurovision song contest from Ukraine to the UK.
The EBU decided to move the popular contest from Ukraine citing security risks and is currently in talks with the BBC.
Boris Johnson: Ukraine deserves to host Eurovision song contest – video
Dan Sabbagh
Oleksandr’s war lasted only a week. The 36-year-old, a Ukrainian electrician working in Gdansk, hurried back to join up after Russia invaded and was deployed on 10 May to guard a chest-high trench in Donbas against the odds.
“We were shelled constantly during the day. There was not 10 minutes without Russian shelling,” he said, describing a fearful human cost. “Every day one person was killed and another couple wounded. Big losses, really big losses.”
On the seventh day, 16 May, it was over. A Russian drone had hovered over Oleksandr’s position near Avdiivka and, armed with the location, the invaders hurled one shell, then another, closer, and finally a third, closer still.
It felt as if he had been “hit by a stone” in his right arm, Oleksandr said, but it was worse: “I looked at my sleeve and then I tried to move my hand. It was just hanging.” Hastily he applied a tourniquet and sought refuge behind the lines.
Boris Johnson has said it is important for the UK to show it stands steadfastly Ukraine amid what he described as ‘Ukraine fatigue’.
Important to show UK is with Ukraine for the long haul, Boris Johnson says – video
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