Live from Ukraine Ukrainian troops report deterrence of Russian counterattack near the village of Moschun near Kiev ONLINE The large metallurgical complex represents the last significant area of Ukrainian resistance in the city. The Ukrainian authorities claim that many civilians, including women, children and the elderly, are hiding there. Russia, meanwhile, has once again called on Ukrainian defenders on the premises to lay down their arms, Reuters reports. 10:37 Greek authorities detain a Russian tanker in the Aegean Sea as part of European Union sanctions against Russia. Greece reported on Tuesday, the AP news agency writes. The Greek Coast Guard said an oil tanker with 19 Russian crew members on board, flying the Russian flag, was detained on April 15 and is currently moored in Karystos Bay on the south coast of the island of Eubója (Evia). The Coast Guard added that the detention order concerned the ship itself, not its cargo. 10:24 Japan will supply Ukraine with gas masks, protective suits and drones to strengthen the country’s defenses. The move comes at a time of growing fears that Russian troops could use chemical weapons, the AP agency reported on Tuesday. Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said his country was sending anti-chemical combat equipment at the request of the Ukrainian government. 10:08 A total of 2.838 million people have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border towards Poland since February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine. The Polish Border Guard (SG), which was referred to by the PAP news agency, reported this on Twitter on Tuesday morning. SG said that on Monday, border guards carried out about 20,000 checks on people entering Ukraine into Poland, an increase of 16 percent over the previous day. The Border Guard also informed that the number of arrivals on Tuesday by 07.00 CET reached the limit of 5800 people. 10:07 Humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians will not open in Ukraine on Tuesday for the third day in a row. This was announced by Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, who was quoted by Reuters and The Guardian. “Unfortunately, humanitarian corridors will not be opened today, April 19. According to Mariupol, the Russians have refused to provide civilians with the corridor leading to Berdyansk. 10:05 Britain is reportedly sending armored vehicles equipped with rocket launchers to Ukraine soon. The decision was made after Russia launched a full-scale offensive to take control of the Ukrainian east. PA Media and DPA reported on Tuesday. The British Ministry of Defense presented Stormer armored vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft missiles two weeks ago in the Salisbury Lowlands in England, writes The daily The Sun. According to him, these 13-ton vehicles can be flown on Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft within a few days. These armored vehicles are designed to attack helicopters and low-flying aircraft, according to the UK Armed Forces. 09:58 The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said on Tuesday that Russian forces were focusing their efforts on full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. According to the General Staff, a new phase of the war began on Monday after Russian troops tried to break through the Ukrainian defenses on almost the entire front line in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions. In a statement released on Tuesday, the General Staff also said that the Russian army continued to block and shell the port city of Mariupol, and that airstrikes on other cities continued. 08:44 French President Emmanuel Macron said his dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin had stalled after mass killings were uncovered in Ukraine. The Guardian reports this. “After the discovery of the massacres in Buč and other cities, the war took a different direction, so I have not spoken to him (Putin) since then, but I do not rule out that I will not do so in the future,” Macron told Belgian television on Monday 5. 07:52 Governor of Belgorodska Vyacheslav Gladkov announced on social media on Tuesday that Ukrainian soldiers had attacked the village of Golovchino, located in the area near the border with Ukraine, injuring one local resident. Reuters reports. It was not immediately clear from Gladkov’s statement on Twitter whether it was a raid or an artillery, missile or mortar attack. Russia has already accused Ukraine of rocket attacks on several Russian villages and villages located in border areas, as well as an attack on a fuel depot in the city of Belgorod, which, according to Moscow, carried out by Ukrainian military helicopters, Reuters recalls. 06:50 A humanitarian ceasefire between Russian and Ukrainian forces in Ukraine is not expected in the near future, but it could be possible in a few weeks. UN Humanitarian Aid Coordinator Martin Griffiths was quoted as saying by The Guardian on Monday. Griffiths met with officials there in Moscow and Kiev in April to discuss UN efforts to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire, as well as ways to improve the stakeholder briefing system on civilian evacuations and transfers of humanitarian aid. 06:42 US President Joe Biden does not plan to visit Ukraine in the foreseeable future, although he was recently invited there by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday. According to her, the US administration is now focusing on providing security assistance or sending military material to Ukraine, the DPA agency reports. However, Psaki also added that if a high-ranking American official traveled to Ukraine, the public would find out about it – for security reasons – only after his arrival in this country. 06:35 On Monday, the European Union condemned the “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine after deadly blows hit the city of Lviv in the west of the state. The AFP news agency informs about it. “The European Union condemns the continuing indiscriminate and illegal shelling of civilians and civilian infrastructure by the Russian armed forces,” said Josep Borrell, head of EU foreign policy. The diplomat drew attention to the “particularly hard attacks” in the east and south of Ukraine, as well as the ongoing offensive against Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkov. “The attacks on Lviv and other cities in western Ukraine show that no part of the country is spared the senseless onslaught of the (Russian) Kremlin,” the EU said. 06:20 Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that members of the US military will soon start training Ukrainian soldiers in how to use howitzers, which are part of the latest military aid package provided by the United States. The training of Ukrainian soldiers by the US military is to take place outside Ukraine. “There will be a small number of Ukrainian soldiers who are trained in howitzers and then return to their country to train their colleagues,” Kirby said. 06:11 The mayor of besieged Mariupol, Vadym Bojchenko, said on Monday that about 40,000 civilians had already been “forcibly deported” to Russia or to areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. According to the BBC, Bojchenko expressed this in an interview with Ukrainian television. He said that the number was verified through data from the general register. The BBC points out that it has not been able to verify the number independently. “We can now confirm that Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, which they have been preparing for a long time. Much of the Russian army is now involved in this offensive,” the Ukrainian president told Telegram. “No matter how many Russian soldiers are called here, we will fight. We will defend ourselves,” he added. With such an announcement, Zelensky confirmed the somewhat similar statements of high-ranking Ukrainian officials, namely the head of his office, Andriy Jermak, as well as the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, Olexiy Danilov. Jermak said shortly before Zelensky via Telegram that “the second phase of the war has begun,” the BBC reports. “Believe in our army, it is very strong,” he urged the Ukrainians. Danilov had previously reported that Russia appeared to have launched the expected offensive in eastern Ukraine. “This morning, the occupiers tried to break through our defenses almost along the entire front line in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv areas … This morning, they began trying to start an active phase,” he said. The start of the expected Russian invasion in Donbas was announced shortly before by the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajdaj. “It’s hell. The offensive we’ve been talking about for weeks has begun. The cities of Rubizna and Popasna are constantly fighting, as well as other quiet cities,” he said in a Facebook post. According to local officials, the Russian shelling claimed eight civilian casualties in Donbas on Monday. Hajdaj said four people had died trying to escape from the town of Kreminna in the Luhansk region, which he said had been seized by Russian troops on Monday. “Unfortunately, Kreminna is under the control of the orcs,” Hajdaj said, calling the Russian soldiers such a pejorative term, according to AFP. However, Adviser to Ukrainian President Oleksiy Arestovych denied that the Russians had already won the Kremlin. “There is intense street fighting going on there,” he said. The governor of the neighboring Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, again informed that four other civilians had lost their lives in the area during Monday’s Russian bombing. The large-scale Russian offensive in Donbas has been predicted by the Ukrainian army for weeks. Russia has focused on the Donbas, which have been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, after withdrawing its troops from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, and its environs. Ukraine hopes to become an EU candidate country in the coming weeks Ukraine hopes to become a candidate country for the European Union within a few weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this on Monday at a meeting with the head of the EU delegation in Ukraine, Mattio Maasikas. The AFP agency informed about it. At the same time, Zelensky handed over to Maasikas the completed questionnaire needed to apply for EU membership, which was handed over to him on 8 April by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, during her visit to Kiev. Zelensky told Maasikas that Kiev believed it would gain Union support in this regard and become a “candidate”, and the next “final phase” of the accession process could begin. “We truly believe that this procedure will take place in the coming weeks,” the Ukrainian president said, adding that the Ukrainian people had been “mentally in Europe for a long time.” The head of the Green Office, Andrij Jermak, said that Ukraine hopes to gain candidate status at the June EU summit. “Subsequently, accession negotiations should begin, which should take place in an accelerated procedure … Ukraine will be in the EU,” he said. Ukraine has stepped up its efforts to join the EU since it invaded Russia on 24 February. Shortly after the beginning of the Russian invasion, she officially applied for membership in the Union. EU leaders have expressed support for Kiev in this effort, but have not committed themselves to any timetable for membership negotiations, and some have also expressed skepticism about the speed of the accession process, which usually takes years.