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One of Russia’s senior generals has said the country aims to capture not just the eastern Donbas region but all of southern Ukraine in its new stage of the conflict, a surprisingly broad public outline of the Kremlin’s aims for the war since focusing away from Kyiv.
Maj. Gen. Rustam Minnekayev said the goal was to create a land bridge from Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula and another exit to the unrecognized pro-Moscow breakaway republic of Transnistria in Moldova, to Ukraine’s southwest.
It was unclear if the comments reflected official policy for Russia's objectives since launching the new eastern offensive.
Near Mariupol, which has been the focus of much of the world’s attention, a second apparent mass grave has been discovered, Ukrainian officials said Friday.
The last pocket of Ukrainian resistance continues to hold out in the strategically vital port city despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to declare a victory there.
'Our happy life stopped': Families recount first hours of Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Ukrainian counterattacks stymie Russian progress, U.K. says
Russia has not made major gains in the last 24 hours due to Ukrainian counterattacks, according to the U.K.'s defense ministry.
Ukraine's defense of air and sea has reduced Russia's ability to gain control over either domain, the ministry said in a Saturday morning update.
Their resistance has also slowed Russian attempts to fully capture the battered port city of Mariupol, the ministry said.
"Despite their stated conquest of Mariupol, heavy fighting continues to take place frustrating Russian attempts to capture the city thus further slowing their desired progress in the Donbas," the ministry stated.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed "success" over Mariupol, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted that Russia does not control the city.
Defense officials, military leaders from more than 20 countries to convene for Ukraine defense talks
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will convene a meeting next week in Germany of defense officials and military leaders from more than 20 countries to discuss Ukraine’s immediate and long-term defense needs.
The Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, said Friday that about 40 nations, including NATO members, were invited and that responses are still arriving for the session to be held Tuesday at Ramstein air base. He did not identify the nations that have agreed to attend but said more details will be provided in coming days.
The meeting comes as Russia gears up for what is expected to be a major offensive in eastern Ukraine.
The agenda will include an updated assessment of the Ukraine battlefield as well as discussion of efforts to continue a steady flow of weapons and other military aid, Kirby said. It will include consultations on Ukraine’s post-war defense needs but is not expected to consider changes in the U.S. military posture in Europe, he said.
Russia says 1 dead, 27 missing, nearly 400 rescued after ship's sinking
The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that one serviceman died, 27 more went missing and 396 were rescued after a fire on the flagship missile cruiser Moskva last week.
The statement comes a week after the vessel sunk.
Shortly after the incident, the ministry said the entire crew of the ship, which was presumed by the media to be about 500 people, had been rescued. The ministry did not offer an explanation for the contradicting reports.
Ukraine said it hit the cruiser with a missile strike.
Zelenskyy sleeps about four hours a night, his press secretary says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been praised for his leadership and patriotism in the wake of Russia’s invasion of his country, is working around the clock, his press secretary said.
“The president sleeps four to five hours a day,” Serhii Nekiforov, Zelenskyy’s press secretary, said Friday.
“There are issues that require the urgent intervention of the president: waking up at night, talking to someone who is in a different time zone, some problems that have arisen that require the intervention of the president in the army. In general, round-the-clock work,” Nekiforov said.
Another apparent mass grave discovered near Mariupol, Ukrainian official says
What appeared to be another mass grave was discovered in a village near Mariupol, a city devastated by Russian bombardment, Ukrainian officials said Friday.
The burial site was found near a cemetery in Vynohradne, a village 7 miles east of Mariupol, said Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the city’s mayor.
In a Telegram post, Andriushchenko accused Russian forces of “using the site to attempt to hide the consequences of war crimes.”
NBC News has not independently verified the claim that the site is a mass grave.
Satellite images from U.S. defense contractor Maxar appear to show what the firm described in a statement as several long, parallel trenches that “are/will likely become” new gravesites. Each trench is roughly 131 feet, the company said.
The firm said the trenches began to appear in late March, around the same time another apparent mass grave was dug in the nearby village of Manhush. Ukrainian officials said Thursday that site could contain as many as 9,000 bodies.
Russian officials did not immediately comment on the allegations.
United Nations finds growing evidence of war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine
The United Nations has found growing evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, including summary executions, shelling of civilian buildings, attacks on medical clinics, abductions and sexual violence, said Michelle Bachelet, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, in a statement Friday.
“Our work to date has detailed a horror story of violations perpetrated against civilians,” Bachelet said. “International humanitarian law has not merely been ignored but seemingly tossed aside.”
U.N. human rights monitors have documented the summary execution of 50 civilians in Bucha, outside of Kyiv, and are looking into the alleged killing of more than 300 civilians in towns in the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy, which were under the control of Russian forces in late February and early March, according to Bachelet.
“Almost every resident in Bucha our colleagues spoke to told us about the death of a relative, a neighbor or even a stranger,” she said. “We know much more needs to be done to uncover what happened there and we also know Bucha is not an isolated incident.”
