The Latest Breaking News from Mykhailo Podolyak

DNIPRO, Ukraine — As Russia ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s eastern front and threatened to cut off energy to more European countries, the Biden administration announced Thursday it was seeking a massive aid package for Ukraine while expanding its economic targeting of Russian oligarchs.

DNIPRO, Ukraine — Russia is “exerting intense fire” along a 300-mile battlefront in Ukraine’s east, the embattled nation’s military said Thursday, as the head of the United Nations landed in Kyiv for a high-profile visit amid escalating threats by Moscow to cut off energy supplies to more European countries.

Russia has continued with its invasion and has been attacking a steel plant where civilians and military personnel are housed

Senior Ukrainian negotiator and presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said on Sunday that Russian forces were continuously shelling Mariupol and urged Moscow to agree a "real Easter truce".

The strategic port city has been ​​taken over by Russian forces, except for a small pocket of resistance.

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Putin orders forces not to storm last stronghold in Mariupol as US pledges further $800m in military assistance

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory on Thursday in the biggest battle of the Ukraine war, declaring the port city of Mariupol "liberated," although hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians were still holding out inside a giant steel works.

Ukraine news from April 21: Addressing Portuguese parliament, Ukraine president says Kyiv needs arms to defend itself.