As it happened: Zelensky asks West for more weapons

As it happened: Zelensky asks West for more weapons

Day 49

Good morning and welcome to our coverage of day 49 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

iIn the above photo, a woman holds and kisses a child next to Russian soldiers in a street of Mariupol on 12 April, as Russian troops intensify a campaign to take the strategic port city.

Here are the overnight developments in the war in Ukraine:

Biden accuses Russians of ‘genocide’

US President Joe Biden accuses Russian forces of committing genocide in Ukraine, the first time his administration has used the term.

“Yes, I called it genocide,” Mr Biden tells reporters travelling with him in Iowa when asked about his use of the term during an earlier speech.

“It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky swiftly responds: “True words of a true leader.”

Ukrainians ‘surrounded’ in Mariupol

Ukrainian forces are “surrounded and blocked” in Mariupol as Russian forces push to take the southeastern port city, Mykhaylo Podolyak, an official from Mr Zelensky’s office, tweets.

Mr Zelensky says he believes “tens of thousands” of people in the city have been killed and makes another plea for weapons.

‘Credible information’ on chemical weapons

The United States has “credible information” that Russia “may use… chemical agents” in its offensive to take Mariupol, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says.

He tells reporters he is not able to confirm accusations that Moscow has already used chemical weapons there.
The world’s chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, says it is “concerned” over reports of the use of chemical weapons in Mariupol.

‘All options on table’

Britain’s armed forces minister James Heappey tells Sky News that if evidence of chemical weapons use emerges, “all options are on the table” as a response.

“There are some things that are beyond the pale, and the use of chemical weapons will get a response,” he says.

Over 400 bodies in Bucha

The mayor of the town of Bucha, where dozens of bodies were found after Russia’s withdrawal from northern Ukraine, says more than 400 people have been found dead so far and 25 women have reported being raped.
Mr Zelensky says investigators have received reports of “hundreds of cases of rape” in areas previously occupied by Russian troops, including sexual assaults of small children.

Burials in east

Around 400 civilians have been buried in the town of Severodonetsk near the frontline in eastern Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the governor of the Luhansk region, Sergiy Gaiday, says.

Invasion going ‘calmly’: Putin

Putin says Russia’s offensive is proceeding “calmly” and according to plan, with the goal of “minimising losses”.

German president ‘not wanted’ in Kyiv

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says he offered to visit Ukraine with other EU leaders but was told by Kyiv his trip was “not wanted”.

Mr Steinmeier, a former foreign minister under ex-chancellor Angela Merkel, was long known for championing ties with Moscow. The snub comes as Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under increasing pressure for not having visited Ukraine.